As chief inspector and then deputy director of the Prison Service, William Brister, with whom I worked as a prison governor and who has died aged 92, was committed to the mission of rehabilitation.
Born in Cairo, the only child of Arthur Brister, an RAF group captain, and his wife, Velda (nee Mirandoli), Bill was educated by Benedictine monks at Douai Abbey, Berkshire, later becoming president of the Douai Society. In 1942 he went to read law at Brasenose College, Oxford, but his studies were interrupted by wartime service in the Intelligence Corps. He graduated in 1949.
At this time the Prison Service offered a secure salary and a house to live in, but it was above all a deep sense of duty and service, and a firm belief and commitment to the Prison Service’s mission of rehabilitation, that underpinned Bill’s career. Rehabilitation was not, in his eyes, an “add-on”, but fundamental, and a demonstration of his Christian belief in the capacity of those who have taken a wrong turning to change, flourish and contribute to society.
Trusted by all, he was efficient and skilled at giving an institution a sense of purpose and identity.
In 1949 he went as assistant governor to Lowdham Grange borstal, an open training establishment for young offenders, and after three years moved to the Prison Staff College at Wakefield. Posts followed on the Isle of Wight at Parkhurst and Camp Hill, at Strangeways, Manchester, and at two borstals, before a move in 1969 to Prison Service headquarters, where he was concerned with the design and construction of new establishments, and as governor to Ashford remand centre.
Other difficult and sensitive assignments included service in Northern Ireland as adviser on prisons (1973-75) to Lord Windlesham.
Recalled to England, and experienced in governing all kinds of penal establishments, in 1982 he was appointed deputy director general of the Prison Service, a role in which he stayed until his retirement in 1985. The post of director was still reserved for career civil servants, who relied on Bill’s knowledge and loyal support.
Interested in people to the end, two days before his death Bill was discussing with a care assistant the differing views of Jesus in the Qur’an and the New Testament. Both men were enjoying a conversation that demonstrated Bill’s incisive mind, deeply ingrained faith and ability to communicate positively with those he met, whatever the occasion.
His wife, Mary, a teacher, whom he met as an undergraduate at Oxford and married in 1949, died in 2012. Their son David died on an army mountaineering expedition to Mount Nuptse in 1975.
Bill is survived by his daughter, Anne-Marie, son Anthony and grandsons, Paul, Gregory and Richard.
