"If we don't act now, we will have, and I use this word deliberately, blood on our hands. We cannot shirk the responsibility for rectifying an injustice. And what an injustice this is. The open-ended jail terms were abolished in 2012, but not retrospectively. This has left thousands already sentenced incarcerated without a release date until they can convince the Parole Board they are safe to be released."
"Lord John Thomas, who served as head of the judiciary as Lord Chief Justice from 2013 to 2017, told the prisons minister the government is failing those still trapped under simply unjust Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms. In a passionate speech in the House of Lords as peers debated a string of amendments to help IPP prisoners which the government refused to support he warned that more people would take their lives or die in prisons under the abolished jail terms."
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences were abolished in 2012 but not applied retrospectively, leaving thousands still detained without fixed release dates. Release depends on persuading the Parole Board that detainees are safe, prolonging incarceration for many convicted of relatively low-level offences. At least 94 prisoners have died by suicide after losing hope of getting out. The UN has described the sentences as psychological torture. Several prisoners have served decades for offences such as mobile phone or laptop theft. Urgent government action is needed to set release dates and review outstanding IPP cases to prevent further harm.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
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