Sir Stephen Tumim (15 August 1930 – 8 December 2003) was an English jurist, and Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons from 1987 to 1995.
Appointed as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons by Douglas Hurd, Tumim soon made a reputation as a critic of the existing system.
He campaigned successfully for an end to slopping out, and was also critical of the "enforced idleness" of prisoners, and poor mental health care.
He served under successive Conservative Home Secretaries (not all of them sympathetic to his views), until Michael Howard declined to renew his contract in 1995, and Sir David Ramsbotham was appointed.
Between 1996 and 1998 he was principal of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, leaving amidst some controversy (he was popular with students, less so with academic colleagues).