By Jez
In case anyone is unsure what to write to our new justice secretary, below is a snippet from my letter, hope that inspires more lovely letters to land at his door. Lets make him earn his salary.
Dear Mr Lidington
I would like to congratulate you on becoming the new Justice Secretary, I do so hope that you sir will actually act as we the public would expect you to do, not by necessarily making good speeches but by acting to stop the continued degrading of human dignity in our prisons and stem the distressful suicide and self harm rates.
There is also a massive stain on the British Justice system at present and the last Justice Secretary did nothing to remove it, so I am bringing it to your attention.
Currently there are thousands of prisoners suffering persecution in Her Majesties prisons. They are forced to remain in prison indefinitely on a sentence that has long been abolished back in 2012. Yet although the sentence was abolished it was not done so retrospectively and so thousands will remain on it potentially indefinitely. The sentence is known as IPP (imprisonment for public protection) or does it actually mean (inexcusable, persistent, persecution)?
For those on this sentence to have a chance of release they must prove they are no longer a danger to the public and their only route to do this is by completing offender courses which are few and far between.
They may be forced to transfer to a prison hundreds of miles away from their family to get on one of these courses. Self harm and mental health issues are particularly high in this category of prisoner, as pointed out in the recent but shortened inquiry (due to the snap election) by the Joint Committee on Human Rights. The inquiry was launched due to the deaths and self harm rates reaching epidemic levels in our prisons. The cost of continuing to keep these people detained is extremely high.
All that needs to happen to resolve this stain on the British justice system is for you to reverse the test for release. This is within your power, if the probation service has to prove to the parole board that these people are still a danger it will give many IPP prisoners the opportunity to become law abiding members of the community.
If they get released they’re under a strict licence and any bad behaviour will be classed as a breach of that licence and they will be sent back to prison, potentially indefinitely. So why are these people not being given the chance? Our culture is based on freedom and self determination, so why are we persecuting people because they are perceived a threat based on a score on a piece of software?
Write to David Lidington regarding the IPP Prisoners injustice
David Lidington
Parliamentary
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 3432
Fax: 020 7219 2564
Email: david.lidington.mp@parliament.uk
David Lidington
Constituency office
100 Walton Street, Aylesbury, HP21 7QP
Tel: 01296 482102
Fax: 01296 398481
Email: office@aylesburyconservatives.com
Parliamentary
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 3432
Fax: 020 7219 2564
Email: david.lidington.mp@parliament.uk
David Lidington
Constituency office
100 Walton Street, Aylesbury, HP21 7QP
Tel: 01296 482102
Fax: 01296 398481
Email: office@aylesburyconservatives.com
Comments
Stephen K.
Are we not bordering on a human rights violation keeping people behind bars denying them a right to a private family life, as in so many cases there is not a scrap of evidence to suggest a danger to the public. Many people are behind bars because of the failure of the probation and prison system. Not because they are dangerous.
Zing Oasys risk should change with length of time served which is the biggest factor in risk (compare lifers reoffending rate to short sentence, lifers about 1-2% short termers is very high) pasta used data for all ex prisoners there are many mAny more short termers and that's inflating assessed risk, There is no actual release test either there is no realistic mathematical measure of risk which is not inflated making parole boards far to risk averse. Stop using the word release test, the release test is the prediction of 3 people who can't predict heads of tails from the flip of a coin, it's non sense the risk assessments do not vary with the biggest factor in reoffending (type of sentence life licence lowers it and length of time served)
Sara .
It's disgusting how people are just forgotten about. If they're past their tarrif then let them out they've done their time.
The IPP sentence has been abolished and the vast majority of those still serving IPP sentences have passed their minimum term. The remaining IPP prisoners should be released with immediate effect!
I signed because prisoners are not animals they are all someone's son or daughter. Its about time Elizabeth Truss did the job she is paid to do. And remember who put this government in . If it wasn't for people like us she would be out of a job .
Carly
My partner/friend serving this sentence of 2years ipp and is coming up to 7 years still inside. If they have shown a change in their life I think they should be released
Callum R.