Ian Hartley is one of those prisoners still serving an IPP sentence. Originally given a tariff of 3 years and 2 months, he is still in prison 12 years on.
Ian has said himself “I hate waking up in a morning and look forward to going to sleep at night. Prison is an awful corrupt place full of violence and abuse. I have served my time and just want to be in a loving family environment to live the rest of my life. The hell I am suffering within this place is indescribable and if it wasn’t for my partner and my family I would have ended my life by now. The only reason I am still here is because I do not want to put them through the pain of losing me.
Ian has said himself “I hate waking up in a morning and look forward to going to sleep at night. Prison is an awful corrupt place full of violence and abuse. I have served my time and just want to be in a loving family environment to live the rest of my life. The hell I am suffering within this place is indescribable and if it wasn’t for my partner and my family I would have ended my life by now. The only reason I am still here is because I do not want to put them through the pain of losing me.
Goalposts are constantly being moved and it is impossible to achieve anything in respect of gaining release. “
All Ian needs is the chance to be released in to society where he has a loving family waiting for him to help him on the road to rehabilitation. If Ian stays in prison, he will continue to get worse emotionally and will eventually end up harming himself to get away from the pain and suffering he has to endure.
I have recently completed a protest outside the Houses of Parliament and Risley Prison where Ian is currently serving his sentence. Whilst in London David Blunkett said he had regretted bringing in the IPP sentences, surely this should tell the government that something has to be done.
I am doing this not only for Ian but also for the rest of the long suffering prisoners still serving these inhumane sentences whereby they have no idea of when they will be released and nor do their families, this is totally against their human rights and justice needs to be served.
Please sign this petition in the hope that serving it to the government will get Ian released and he can then be rehabilitated in the community and start living his life as a loved family man just as he deserves.
‘Get a grip!’
Parole chief urges government to act on cases of people in prison on abolished public protection sentences who have served over their minimum tariff
Chairman of the Parole Board for England and Wales Nick Hardwick has spoken out forcefully about the discredited and abandoned IPP sentences. Speaking to the BBC he told how he was frustrated at the government’s inability to ‘get a grip’ on the issue. The sentence, introduced by David Blunkett MP when he was Justice Secretary was abolished in 2012 but there are still 3,300 prisoners serving the sentences, often many years beyond the original tariff.
“The levels of suicide, assault, and self-harm is unacceptably high,” he said. “It’s the fault of political and policy decisions that should have been put right two years ago. We need to get a grip on this problem. Michael Gove agreed to a whole series of changes and then was sacked before he had the chance to do it, when he was justice minister.”
Of the harm done to the people on IPP sentences Mr Hardwick said that delays in releasing such prisoners could be reduced if the process was changed so that the state had to prove they were a danger to the public if they were released. “Some of those delays are down to the Parole Board,” he acknowledged, “but we are making good progress in putting those right. But the other main reason for the delay is that it is so difficult for somebody in that [prisoner’s] position to meet the legal test of demonstrating that they are not going to commit a serious offence in future. For people with a tariff or punishment part of their sentence of less than two years, the onus should be on the state to prove they are likely to commit a further offence, rather than for them to prove they are not.”
The Parole Board released its Annual Report and Accounts 2016/17 and Business Plan 2017/18 in July. These reports show the good progress the Parole Board has made over the past year, but also the work still needed to meet our strategic goals.
Annual Report and Accounts 2016/17
It may not feel like it if you are stuck in your cell waiting for a delayed parole hearing, or you have just been knocked back, but we are making progress in improving the Board’s performance: our backlog of cases is down, waiting times are down, the number of prisoners serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) still in custody is down, over 100 new members have been recruited, and we have successfully moved from paper to digital systems.
Key facts for 2016/17:
• 7,377 oral hearings and 25,204 cases on the papers, up 6% on 2015/16;
• Number of outstanding cases reduced by 17% from 2,445 to 2,033 cases;
• 1,938 IPP cases were concluded at oral hearing. 894 IPPs were released, a 20% increase on the number released in 2015-16, and an additional 11 IPPs were released on the papers;
• The number of IPPs still in prison fell to 3,528, down 42% on its peak in June 2012;
• 104 new Parole Board members were recruited;
• The proportion of oral hearings that were adjourned or deferred in 2016/17 remained too high at 30%, and this is a major priority for 2017/18.
Key aims for the Parole Board for 2017/18:
• Reducing the number of outstanding cases delayed due to capacity constraints;
• Ensuring that most IPP prisoners have either been safely released, or have clear plans in place that will enable them to progress.
A focus on… accredited programmes
There has been a lot of discussion on SOTP recently and so a specialist parole board member was asked to explain how this affects prisoners from a parole perspective:
Recent changes in accredited programmes have provoked great concern amongst those who have completed the older programmes and raised questions about whether this will have a negative impact on their parole decisions. This is not the case.
New programmes are steadily being introduced based on the most up-to-date research about what helps prisoners to stop offending and manage their risks effectively. Whilst the research about programmes, such as the Core SOTP, has been disappointing, some participants will have benefited from them.
Panels will not assume that attending older programmes has increased a participant’s risks. The key issue has always been that interventions offer individuals an opportunity to consider their offending and risks for the future, along with attempting to equip them with ways of managing these risks.
At a parole hearing the questions you are asked will focus on your personal experience and want you to talk about how you have made use of any programmes completed. This is much more important than just knowing you have attended sessions and ‘ticked a box’.
New programmes focus on participants taking responsibility for their own change, working actively on the factors which have led to offending and managing these in future. They will assist participants to tailor the input to their own issues and help them monitor progress. There is a firm acknowledgment of the need for learning and the ability to put this into practice, beyond the programme itself and panels have always looked for evidence of this from a range of sources.
If you have completed older programmes, you can use your experience of those to help you answer questions at hearings and show that you have made good progress in taking responsibility for managing your risks. The potential for a positive outcome for you remains.
Brutal Reality
Brutal Reality
COMMENTS
Brackenbury There numbers are a load of crap as there's not even 8-9000 ipps left in prison it's under 4000 so whoever done this article pulled it out of thin air!
Backer The man has served his sentence why rob him of precious time with his family .Let him be free.
Evens This is beyond horrendous! As a former inmate I know only too well that all anyone ever thinks is their release date!!
This is conscious cruelty!! And needs to end- Immediately!! A prison sentence is meant to be a punishment-not never ending torture!!!!
Howard I have a step son who has been in prison for an IPP sentence for similar length of time for an initial tariff of 3 years. He says the same things as Ian Hartley about prison life and it's effects. I know there is a great shortage od prison officers which makes their job impossible to do properly so surely it would make to get IPP prisoners who have served way beyond their sentence out and alleviate the crowding in prisons and thus save the money which is being used for their detention and spend it on improving the prison service
Ramshaw This is not right!
Keane This is another unbelievable story
Toner The IPP sentence is totally barbaric. It takes away all hope for prisoners and their families.Year after year they pray for release then get refused. Prisoners weren,t hung after the death sentence was abolished so why are IPP prisoners still being held after this sentence was abolished. Every IPP prisoner should be released with immediate effect
Kelly This real does need sorting out.
Davies It's unbelievable
It's unbelievable that there are over 3,k renaming ipp prisoners left in the prison system
wood free him now
Duffy Inhumane treatment of people who have served their time these human beings need justice or at least to know when they will be home a gross neglect of human rights I've supported this cause for a while.
MCCREATH IVE KNOWN IAN SINCE I WAS 9 YEARS OLD. HE'S A GOOD LAD. HE HAS SERVED LONG ENOUGH
Baker It is. an abolished and inhumane sentence and you wouldn't treat an animal like those. poor prisoners and their families are being treated
ChapmanTime for him to get out !!!! Such a shame
Grace My partner and I are 'lucky' in that his sentence will come to an end but the injustice faced by us and by all prisoners and their families, especially those serving ipps is stark and unfair. My hope is that this petition will be the start of an avalanche of outcry of the cruel and degrading treatment that we are receiving from the state.
Pennington His sentence should be abolished as it is inhumane to give no hope to someone 3 year sentence and still there 12 years on what a society are we turning into free him now.
his awful sentence needs to be addressed now too many people like Ian Hartley held beyond their sentence it is inhumane to give them no hope of release.
Hosker I feel Ian has served his time and more he didn't kill, rape or molest children why is he still in there when people who committ the above walk free after pathetic short sentences weres the justice in that!
Collective Ian has served more than four times his original sentence and deserves to be on the outside immediately.
Hibbert This is an unjust sentence that has been abolished So it's time to take action and get the remaining ones released
Dickinson OPP sentences amount to unlawful detention and breach fundamental human rights. The ongoing harm created as a result of these sentences to the individual and their families significantly outweighs the degree of public protection achieved by these provisions.
Mellor I don't agree with ipp it's against human rights..it's wrong in so many ways, free them all, they have served their time!!!
Cooper I suffered from this sentence it's a disgrace never got thought about just seen in America and the the government brought it in the mental torture the prisoner goes through is awful as well as family
Cunningham his is a disgusting and inhumane sentence
Harris I believe all ipp sentenced person's need an urgent review of their cases and the time they are/ have served. I expect results will find the time served is usually extremely disproportionate to the offences
wakeman Many things in the UK to do with justice are unjust. It is a way the neoliberal state controls us
Thomson I'm sick of living in a society which uses indefinite terms of punishment.
“Soto I hate waking up in a morning and look forward to going to sleep at night. Prison is an awful corrupt place full of violence and abuse." Just about sums up why this petition needs to be signed.
Debono ipp sentence was dished out like candy to those it was not meant for the government knew it was not implemented properly and so abolished it. But not for those serving it. This sentence has no date of release. It is a life sentence through the back door There is is no hope and no light at the end of the tunnel.
Horton The IPP sentence is inhumane. The government should have abolished it for serving IPP prisoners as well - they could simply have changed the sentences to Extended Determinate sentences. If the sentence is wrong, it's wrong retrospectively as well.
Ramshaw This is not right!
Keane This is another unbelievable story
Toner The IPP sentence is totally barbaric. It takes away all hope for prisoners and their families.Year after year they pray for release then get refused. Prisoners weren,t hung after the death sentence was abolished so why are IPP prisoners still being held after this sentence was abolished. Every IPP prisoner should be released with immediate effect
Kelly This real does need sorting out.
Davies It's unbelievable
It's unbelievable that there are over 3,k renaming ipp prisoners left in the prison system
wood free him now
Duffy Inhumane treatment of people who have served their time these human beings need justice or at least to know when they will be home a gross neglect of human rights I've supported this cause for a while.
MCCREATH IVE KNOWN IAN SINCE I WAS 9 YEARS OLD. HE'S A GOOD LAD. HE HAS SERVED LONG ENOUGH
Baker It is. an abolished and inhumane sentence and you wouldn't treat an animal like those. poor prisoners and their families are being treated
ChapmanTime for him to get out !!!! Such a shame
Grace My partner and I are 'lucky' in that his sentence will come to an end but the injustice faced by us and by all prisoners and their families, especially those serving ipps is stark and unfair. My hope is that this petition will be the start of an avalanche of outcry of the cruel and degrading treatment that we are receiving from the state.
Pennington His sentence should be abolished as it is inhumane to give no hope to someone 3 year sentence and still there 12 years on what a society are we turning into free him now.
his awful sentence needs to be addressed now too many people like Ian Hartley held beyond their sentence it is inhumane to give them no hope of release.
Hosker I feel Ian has served his time and more he didn't kill, rape or molest children why is he still in there when people who committ the above walk free after pathetic short sentences weres the justice in that!
Collective Ian has served more than four times his original sentence and deserves to be on the outside immediately.
Hibbert This is an unjust sentence that has been abolished So it's time to take action and get the remaining ones released
Dickinson OPP sentences amount to unlawful detention and breach fundamental human rights. The ongoing harm created as a result of these sentences to the individual and their families significantly outweighs the degree of public protection achieved by these provisions.
Mellor I don't agree with ipp it's against human rights..it's wrong in so many ways, free them all, they have served their time!!!
Cooper I suffered from this sentence it's a disgrace never got thought about just seen in America and the the government brought it in the mental torture the prisoner goes through is awful as well as family
Cunningham his is a disgusting and inhumane sentence
Harris I believe all ipp sentenced person's need an urgent review of their cases and the time they are/ have served. I expect results will find the time served is usually extremely disproportionate to the offences
wakeman Many things in the UK to do with justice are unjust. It is a way the neoliberal state controls us
Thomson I'm sick of living in a society which uses indefinite terms of punishment.
“Soto I hate waking up in a morning and look forward to going to sleep at night. Prison is an awful corrupt place full of violence and abuse." Just about sums up why this petition needs to be signed.
Debono ipp sentence was dished out like candy to those it was not meant for the government knew it was not implemented properly and so abolished it. But not for those serving it. This sentence has no date of release. It is a life sentence through the back door There is is no hope and no light at the end of the tunnel.
Horton The IPP sentence is inhumane. The government should have abolished it for serving IPP prisoners as well - they could simply have changed the sentences to Extended Determinate sentences. If the sentence is wrong, it's wrong retrospectively as well.
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