Anton Shelupanov

Anton Shelupanov (born 1978) is a Russo-British penal reformer, social innovator, musician and actor.

Life and work

Shelupanov was born in the Soviet Union in 1978. He is the son of Prof. Alexander Shelupanov. He came to the UK in the 1990s and was educated at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. In 1999 he joined the International Centre for Prison Studies and under the mentorship of Prof.Andrew Coyle and Baroness Vivien Stern embarked on a career in the field of penal reform. He has worked in a number of countries, including China and Russia. In 2002 he was decorated by the Russian Ministry of Justice for a significant contribution to the development of human rights in the region. In 2008 he co-authored the UNODC Toolkit on HIV in Prisons.

Since 2007 he has been based at the Young Foundation, a centre for social innovation in London, where he manages the Foundation’s programme of work on criminal justice. He has published several papers on this subject . He is currently an adviser to the Parliament of Ukraine and the government of Turkmenistan on penal reform.

He frequently appears on the BBC Russian Service’s BBSeva programme as a commentator on prisons and justice.

Anton Shelupanov boxes at the Times Amateur Boxing Club in Kings Cross, and is the vice chair of the Board of Directors of Homes for Haringey, a social housing provider in North London.

Music and acting

Shelupanov is a close friend of the poet Stephen Howarth. They acted together in the rock musical Rasputin Rocks! and both are due to perform in forthcoming play Bacchus in Rehab at the Etcetera Theatre. Shelupanov is a prolific songwriter and musician. He fronts the British death.blues band Bleak, which is signed to Line Out Records alongside such bands as Deathboy and Goteki. He is a noted bass guitar player on the Russian circuit, having appeared on stage with such Russian artists as Abrau Durso, Chicherina and Valery Sutkin. He has toured in a number of countries including the USA, Russia, UK, Lebanon and the Netherlands.