Our Patrons

Our Patrons – each pre-eminent in his own sphere – cement our links with the judiciary, the police, and learning and skills.

Rob Douglas CBE

Chair of the Surrey Learning and Skills Council from 2000-08, and a member of the LSC South East Regional Council, Rob Douglas is a Board Member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and was appointed a CBE in 2005 for services to learning and skills. So he has an innate understanding of the vital importance of accredited training and resettlement skilling for prisoners through the intervention programmes offered by KeepOut. This – and the way he rapidly recognised the benefits for the young people who take part in our behaviour changing one-day workshops and learning and education role play – are what made us ask him to become a Patron of KeepOut. When Rob observed a KeepOut workshop at HMP Coldingley during his year as High Sheriff of Surrey 2010-11, he told us: “After a VIP visit in March, I had really wanted to go back to see the reaction of and the interaction with the youngsters and it was fascinating to see that, and their varying reactions. With some you could see the light bulbs going on, with others you felt that they were going through the motions. What impressed me at the end was how the prisoner team really challenged them on that and pushed them on any evasive answers to how they were going to change.  It is such a worthwhile programme; I just hope that the funding can continue to flow”.

Sir Denis O’Connor CBE QPM

Sir Denis is currently Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, leading and identifying the need for improvement in policing. Before joining the Inspectorate he was Chief Constable of Surrey between 2000 and 2004, and Assistant Chief Constable in the county from 1991-94, joining Kent Police as Deputy Chief Contable in 1994. In 1997 he joined the Metropolitan Police as Assistant Commissioner. That means he has a working knowledge of KeepOut and the programmes we run in Surrey prisons with young people on the cusp of crime. In 1997, Sir Denis was appointed Assistant Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police, where he led the Met’s development strategy following the Stephen Lawrence Enquiry. Following the publication in September 2010 of Stop the Rot, the HMIC Report that examined the effects of anti-social behaviour and yobbish behaviour on UK streets, he has an up-to-the-minute understanding of the need for the intervention programmes offered by KeepOut, capable of challenging and changing behaviours amongst young people.

The Hon Lord Justice Toulson QC PC

With his passionate belief in the redeeming power of restorative justice, we are delighted that Sir Roger Toulson is now a Patron of KeepOut. Knighted in 1996 and appointed Lord Justice of Appeal in January 2007, he sat as Chairman of the Law Commission from 2002-2006. Roger was first introduced to the rehabilitative work of KeepOut by his wife Elizabeth, who attended a workshop at HMP Coldingley as High Sheriff of Surrey 2009-10 and ‘found it one of the most moving experiences of my entire Shrieval year’. Roger lives in Surrey and so has a keen interest in our restorative justice interventions in two of the five prisons within the county – the charity’s expansion to a community prison, HMP Lewes, receives his full support, too. With four adult children and four grandchildren, family is a central focus for him. He says of our charity’s work: “Anything which can be done to redirect young people from a life of crime deserves the fullest support. Keep Out is an excellent scheme for getting the message across to young people at risk, through coming into prison and listening to the experience of prisoners who do not want them to follow the same route.”