Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen, who retired yesterday as a judge of the High Court, takes up his new position today as the State's first Inspector-General of Prisons and Places of Detention.
For 12 years, the judge was a member of the visiting committee of St Patrick's Institution for juvenile offenders.
He was also chairman of the visiting committee of Mountjoy Prison for four years. He is a patron of PACE (Prisoners Aid through Community Effort).
Mr Justice Kinlen appeared as a senior counsel in the Whiddy Island disaster and was leading counsel for Dublin Corporation in the Stardust disaster inquiry and during the Wood Quay legal saga.
He told the final sitting in his court yesterday that when he joined the Bar, there were 200 barristers and eight High Court judges. Today there are 2,000 barristers and 28 High Court judges.