Calls to end the ‘living nightmare’ of indefinite jail terms ahead of crunch Lords debate

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Mental well being, human rights and felony justice specialists have made a joint plea for parliament to end the “living nightmare” of indefinite jail terms, following a collection of revelations by The Independent.

Thousands of prisoners have been left languishing in jail for years longer than their minimal tariff, and with no hope of launch, beneath imprisonment for public safety (IPP) sentences – which had been scrapped greater than a decade in the past amid human rights considerations.

They embrace tragic instances highlighted by The Independent akin to these of Wayne Bell, who has served greater than 16 years for stealing a motorbike; Thomas White, who remains to be in jail 11 years after he stole a cell phone; and Shaun Lloyd, who fears he may very well be hauled again to jail for the fourth time for stealing a cellphone virtually 20 years in the past.

The coalition of 11 main voices, led by the Prison Reform Trust, has come collectively ahead of a crunch debate in the House of Lords this week, by which friends will overview a collection of amendments to the Victims and Prisoners Bill, together with one calling for all IPP prisoners to be resentenced.

Organisations which have joined the name for motion embrace the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the British Psychological Society, Amnesty International, Justice, Liberty, the United Group for Reform of IPP, the Probation Institute, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Inquest, the Howard League for Penal Reform, and the Prison Reform Trust.

A cross-party group of friends – together with David Blunkett, who admits he regrets introducing the sentence as house secretary in 2005 – have additionally tabled 17 amendments to assist these affected by IPPs, which can be debated on Monday.

IPP sentences had been scrapped in 2012, however not retrospectively, leaving virtually 3,000 inmates trapped in jail with no launch date – with greater than 700 of them having served 10 years longer than their minimal tariff.

More than 80 IPP prisoners are identified to have taken their very own lives – together with the seven whose self-inflicted deaths had been revealed by The Independent final yr.

Dr Josanne Holloway, chair of the forensic college at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, mentioned the invoice is an opportunity to make “real progress in ending one of the biggest injustices of our criminal justice system”.

“Serving an IPP sentence can have a devastating impact on someone’s mental health,” she mentioned. “They have all served longer than the usual tariff for the offence, often for continuing mental health difficulties, and live with the daily uncertainty of not knowing if their sentence will ever end – a hardship which is worsened by the fact that the very sentence they are serving is unjust.”

Reforms are additionally backed by the British Psychological Society – which mentioned the sentence leaves individuals in a “chronic state of anxiety and hopelessness”.

The amendments tabled embrace a provision to perform a resentencing train – which was the principal advice of an inquiry carried out by the justice committee in 2022.

The authorities has up to now refused to resentence prisoners, regardless of a “worrying rise” in self-inflicted deaths reported in prisons as inmates lose hope. Instead, justice secretary Alex Chalk proposed lowering the IPP licence interval from 10 to three years, in plans introduced final yr.

While the licence overview is a “welcome step”, it doesn’t go far sufficient to end the “cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment”, campaigners added. Tom Southerden, Amnesty UK’s authorized programme director, mentioned: “IPP sentences are a stain on the justice system and were found by the European Court to violate fundamental human rights as long ago as 2012.

“For the thousands of people still stuck in this system it has become a living nightmare. It’s clearly past time for a root and branch reform of how the justice system deals with these people, and while the government’s proposals in the Victims and Prisoners Bill are a welcome step, they don’t go nearly far enough.”

Tyrone Steele, deputy authorized director at Justice, mentioned the sentences are “indefensible”, urging friends to “help end this shameful chapter in our legal history”.

Under the controversial sentences, which had been launched by New Labour in 2005 however scrapped seven years later, individuals had been handed a minimal jail time period with out a specified most time period.

After finishing their minimal tariff, IPP inmates should apply to the Parole Board and meet stringent standards so as to be launched – together with not affected by psychological well being issues – to show that they’re now not a threat to the public.

Other reforms tabled by friends embrace measures to enhance the sentence development of IPP prisoners, and a brand new energy of government launch of recalled IPP prisoners.

They additionally suggest additional easing of the strict licence circumstances, which might see individuals recalled a number of occasions for even minor breaches – akin to in the case of Mr Lloyd, who has already been recalled to jail 3 times for taking a cellphone when he was 18.

Backing the requires reform, Inquest revealed it has up to now supported 28 households of prisoners who died whereas serving an IPP sentence, akin to Tommy Nicol, who was two years over his minimal tariff for stealing a automotive when he died by suicide in 2015. His sister Donna Mooney campaigns with the United Group for Reform of IPP (UNGRIPP).

“Every day we hear about the extreme damage the IPP sentence does to people serving the sentence and their families,” an UNGRIPP spokesperson mentioned. “This treatment has been allowed to continue for more than 18 years. The torture of the IPP needs to stop. While many of these amendments do not go far enough, they are a step closer to ending the injustice of the IPP sentence.”

Pia Sinha, chief government of the Prison Reform Trust, acknowledged that Mr Chalk had gone additional than his predecessors to assist IPP prisoners, however referred to as for extra “radical” reform. She instructed The Independent: “The injustice faced by thousands of IPP prisoners and their families requires more radical action still.

“An influential cross-party group of peers has tabled a series of amendments to the Victims and Prisoners Bill to take forward reforms in a number of important areas. With the backing of organisations from across the mental health, human rights and criminal justice sectors, we hope peers will be persuaded to support these amendments and help bring a distressing chapter in British legal history to a close.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson mentioned: “We have reduced the number of unreleased IPP prisoners by three-quarters since we scrapped the sentence in 2012, with a 12 per cent fall in the last year alone where the Parole Board deemed prisoners safe to release.

“We have also taken decisive action to curtail licence periods, and continue to help those still in custody to progress towards release, including improving access to rehabilitation programmes and mental health support.”