Megan Georgiou


Postgraduate Research Student
Wednesdays, 9:00 - 17:00

About

I am a part-time postgraduate researcher at the University of Surrey. My interests in criminology include the effects of imprisonment, the mental health of people in prison, prison culture, and staff-prisoner relationships. My postgraduate research explores the concept of mental illness in prisons and the ways in which health and justice services are shaped and organised to meet the needs of people in prison. It seeks to uncover the complexities of care and custody and how mental illness is experienced and responded to. 

Additionally, I am employed by an independent mental health provider to oversee quality improvement. This role consists of embedding a culture of quality improvement and managing the quality and performance monitoring responsibilities across the organisation. 

Previously, I worked for the Royal College of Psychiatrists managing quality improvement networks for prison and forensic mental health services and psychiatric intensive care units. In this role, I published quality mental health standards and developed best-practice guidance, managed national peer-review programmes and embedded lived experience into all aspects of our work. My greatest achievement to date was establishing the Quality Network for Prison Mental Health Services in 2015. I have also worked within youth justice settings and for a crime reduction charity.

My qualifications

2011
BSc Criminology and Sociology
University of Surrey
2013
MSc Clinical Criminology
University of Leicester

Publications

Georgiou, M. (2022) The state of secondary mental healthcare in prisons during a pandemic: an analysis of prison inspection reports from England and Wales, Prison Service Journal. Available at: Prison Service Journal (crimeandjustice.org.uk)

Sen P, Forrester A, Georgiou M, Haque Q, Ismail N, Neville P (2022) Mental health in the criminal justice system: austerity must now be reversed, BMJ, 376 :o727 doi:10.1136/bmj.o727 

Georgiou, M. & Meadows, R. (2021) Reforming the Mental Health Act? A Criminal Justice Perspective, British Society of Criminology Blog. Available at: https://thebscblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/03/reforming-the-mental-health-act-a-criminal-justice-perspective/

Georgiou, M. (2021) Book Review: Issues and Innovations in Prison Health Research: Methods, Issues and Innovations, British Journal of Criminologyhttps://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaa106 

Georgiou, M. & Jethwa, J. (2021) Planning effective mental healthcare in prisons: Findings from a national consultation on the Care Programme Approach in prisons, Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 77: 102-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2020.102105 

Georgiou, M. (2020) The coronavirus pandemic and prison mental health, University of Surrey Department of Sociology Blog. Available at: https://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/2020/06/09/the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-prison-mental-health/

Georgiou, M. & Townsend, K. (2019) Quality Network for Prison Mental Health Services: Reviewing the quality of mental health provision in prisons, The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14789949.2019.1637918