The Perrie Lectures is an annual event which has the purpose of stimulating dialogue between criminal justice organisations, the voluntary sector and all those with an academic, legal or practical interest in people in prison and their families.

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The Perrie Lectures are named in honour of  Bill Perrie, who retired from the Prison Service in 1978.  He worked as a prison governor for 32 years, latterly at HMPs Hull, Long Lartin, and Winson Green, Birmingham. A sound practitioner, Bill contributed much to the development of hostels, working out schemes, and regimes for long term prisoners.  Bill attended the lectures every year until his death in 1997.

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Since 1995, the Perrie Award has been presented annually during the day of the lectures.  It has been given by the  Perrie Lectures Committee to the person who has done most to promote an understanding of the work of the Prison Service, and pushed forward the development of penal policy.

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Through the Perrie Lectures and the Perrie Award, it is hoped that the care of people in prison can be improved, and penal policy, in its broadest sense, advanced.

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The text of the Perrie Lectures is produced in full as a special edition of the Prison Service Journal.

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The Perrie Lectures Committee is independent and non-profit making and is currently made up of the following members: