Abolished indefinite jail term is an ‘embarrassment’ to Britain, prison officers union chief says
Prison officers are being left in the “unbearable” position of dealing with frustrated and desperate prisoners stuck in abolished indefinite prison sentences that are “shameful” for Britain, a union chief has warned.
Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, hit out at the government for leaving nearly 2,500 prisoners sentenced to “grossly unfair” imprisonment for public protection (IPP) despite it being revoked 13 years ago.
“There are some people who are way over their time and shouldn’t be in prison, frankly, because they’re there for the most trivial offenses and there’s no release signal,” he said. Independent. “This cannot be fair in a civilized society.”
His comments came as Napo, a union representing probation workers, called on the government to “finish the job” and address the injustice towards those still serving prison sentences.
Open-ended punishments, deemed inhumane by the UN, were abolished in 2012, but not retroactively; Thousands of people already convicted were incarcerated without a release date until they convinced the Parole Board that it was safe to release them.
Victims of the scandal whose tragic cases stand out IndependentThey include: Leroy Douglas, who spent almost 20 years in prison for robbing a cell phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself on fire in his cell and served 13 years in prison for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleiman, 41, who remains in prison 19 years after he was imprisoned for laptop robbery.
Despite at least 94 IPP prisoners taking their own lives after losing hope of release, successive governments have rejected calls from the justice select committee to resent them.
The POA has no official position on imprisonment. But Mr Gillan warned that the government’s failure to act left the onus on prison officers to deal with IPP prisoners who were frustrated, despondent or struggling with their mental health in overcrowded prisons.
“If you don’t give people hope, they rebel against the system,” Mr. Gillan said. “My members are the ones affected by this.”
The United Nations is currently investigating whether the UK has breached human rights law by arbitrarily detaining IPP prisoners after campaigners launched a major legal complaint on behalf of five men who have been jailed for a total of 84 years. The government will publish a response to their complaints next month.
Mr Gillan added: “I think it’s a shame to be honest with you because until now, since the legislation expired in 2012, I would have thought in the intervening years that this would have been addressed, not ignored.
“It forced families to appeal to the UN about incarceration in Britain. We are better than that.”
He called on ministers to find a way to address the scandal that both protects the public and is “fair and just for the people serving these sentences”.
Separate proposals put forward by the Howard Alliance for Sentencing Reform are also before ministers, calling for the remaining IPP prisoners to be given a release date within two years.
Mr Gillan’s concerns are shared by the union representing probation officers. Speaking at a meeting in parliament on Wednesday organized by the campaign group IPP Action Committee, Napo deputy general secretary Ranjit Singh said the prison sentence was “institutionalised harm”.
Among those listening to the meeting were Prisons Minister Lord James Timpson and Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe supported the government’s calls to help those stuck in prison.
The calls followed a protest outside Parliament House by family members and former IPP prisoners.
“If the IPP is an unfair punishment and it is accepted [when it was abolished]then the issue needs to be addressed for those still serving,” Mr. Singh said later. Independent.
“It is an injustice that must be corrected. These people, who are currently languishing in prison due to IPP, are harmed because their health deteriorates.”
Napo supports proposals to re-sentence the remaining IPP inmates on a case-by-case basis and to review the Parole Board’s release test.
Even when IPP inmates are finally released by the Parole Board, many find themselves in a vicious cycle of prison recall, resulting in them being recalled to prison for minor breaches of strict licensing conditions.
Mr Singh added: “Nobody wants to do these recalls, we want to see people succeed in society.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “It is right that IPP penalties are abolished but public safety must come first.
“Every IPP prisoner is entitled to a parole review at least every two years and no one can be detained in prison unless the independent Parole Board decides they still pose a serious risk.”
