Hollesley Bay prison’s Independent Monitoring Board Chairman has pledged continue with her duties despite being ostracised by other board members.

East Anglian Daily Times: Faith SpearFaith Spear (Image: Copyright 2016 KJ Spear. This image may be used unmodified in print and online on strict condition the photo is credited as foll)

Faith Spear said she has no regrets over refusing to step down from her position after writing what turned out to be an incendiary article in The Prisons Handbook.

Mrs Spear said: “At the monthly board meeting I was the only one present.

“I have assured the Governor that I will make sure the monitoring is done each week.

“I am awaiting the results of the Independent inquiry by the Ministry of Justice into (allegedly) being bullied. I don’t regret making a stand, but it has been at a cost.”

As a result of what Mrs Spear wrote under the pseudonym of Daisy Mallet, her fellow board members demanded she resign last month.

They said if she did not do so they would refuse to work with her. Two are since said to have resigned.

Describing herself as a whistleblower without a whistle, Mrs Spear had outlined her view that the prisoner monitoring system must be more professional, more transparent and infused with younger bloodlines, if there is to be progress over prisoners’ rehabilitation.

The fallout led to what Mark Leech, editor of The Prisons Handbook, described as a ‘disgraceful coup d’etat”.

Mrs Spear, of Ipswich, said she is continuing her duties alone.

Last month a spokesman for the Hollesley Bay IMB said it categorically denied any form of bullying.

It is understood the board’s view was that no approval had been sought for the Daisy Mallet article, it reflected poorly on HBIMB, and it did not accept much of the content as accurate.

The Ministry of Justice said an inquiry was still continuing into Mrs Spear’s allegations.