I've spent almost 20 years in prison for robbing 20. Now UK wants to deport me'

"Sheldon Coore, 47, says Huddersfield is all he has ever known since his mother brought him to the UK in 1988 at just 16 months old to join his grandparents, who settled during Windrush. He was handed an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail term in 2005 after he put a man in a headlock and stole 20 from his pocket, having already racked up a string of previous convictions to fund his drug addiction."

"Despite being handed a minimum tariff of two years and 65 days, he says the open-ended jail term has ruined his life as he languishes in prison two decades later. He is now waiting to be deported to Jamaica from HMP Erlestoke, a category C prison in Wiltshire, after the Home Office successfully applied to remove him despite having only visited the Caribbean country once in his adult life."

"The open-ended sentences were scrapped in 2012 following a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights, but not retrospectively, which left almost 2,500 people already sentenced trapped without a release date. Successive governments have refused recommendations to resentence the remaining prisoners, despite at least 94 taking their own lives as they lose hope of release. Victims of the scandal whose tragic cases have been highlighted by The Independent include Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for stealing a mobile phone;"

A father of five has lived in Britain since being brought from Jamaica as an infant during Windrush and considers Huddersfield his only home. He received an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence in 2005 for putting a man in a headlock and stealing 20, after previous convictions linked to drug addiction. The open-ended IPP sentence left him imprisoned for nearly two decades despite a minimum tariff of two years and 65 days. The Home Office has successfully applied to deport him to Jamaica despite minimal adult contact with the country. The IPP scheme was scrapped in 2012 but not applied retrospectively, leaving almost 2,500 people without release dates and at least 94 having taken their own lives, while governments have declined to resentence the remaining prisoners and the UN is investigating.

Read at www.independent.co.uk