The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) was founded in 1981 in London, England by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community punishments than on traditional prison reform issues. Founding members included Sir Monty Finniston and Veronica Linklater. Stephen Shaw was Director of PRT from 1981 to 1999, when he became the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales. He was succeeded as Director by Juliet Lyon.