Dame Ruth Runciman (Patron)

Dame Ruth Runciman was Chair of the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust from 2001 – 2013. From 1974-1995, Ruth was a member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs where she chaired several Working Groups including those that produced reports on AIDS and drug misuse, and drug misuse and the criminal justice system. She was Chair of the UK Drug Policy Commission from 2007 – 2013 and Chair of the National AIDS Trust from 2000 – 2006. Ruth chaired the Police Foundation Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (1997-2000) which produced the report Drugs and the Law in 2000. From 1994-1998 she was Chair of the Mental Health Act Commission. In her CAB career she set up a Citizens Bureau Advice Service in Wormwood Scrubs in 1989 which was the first CAB in any prison in the UK. She also co-founded the Prison Reform Trust in 1981.

Ruth was a member of the Board from 2018 until 2022, and we are extremely proud that she has stayed on as Release’s first Patron.