Target: LASPO, The House ofLords, The Government, Ken Clarke, The

Quoted post

Katherine Gleeson

#2 IPP

2012-04-16 15:54

The Court of Appeal has ruled that it’s unlawful for someone given an indeterminate sentence for public protection IPP to be kept in prison beyond his tariff (the period set by the sentencing judge as the minimum required for punishment, release thereafter being permitted on condition that the offender satisfies the parole board that he won’t reoffend) if he hasn’t been able to take one of the prison courses whose completion is a condition of release. It seems that a thousand or more prisoners serving IPPs are in this Kafkaesque, nightmare logical trap. In the words of Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison reform Trust, - the High Court has rightly held that it is illegal to detain people until they can prove that they are safe but yet deny them the means to do so. The only wonder is that it took a court judgment to demonstrate to ministers the fault in their Alice in Wonderland logic. It is a life sentence in all but name. The only real difference is that it can be given for far less serious offences. The Prison Reform Trust has come across people given tariffs for their sentence of just 18 weeks. The tariff, as in the life sentence, is the minimum time that must be served. It represents the retribution or punishment for the offence. But even after the tariff, the person remains in prison until they have done the courses necessary to demonstrate they are ready for release. But because of grotesque prison over-crowding and the low priority given to ‘education’ (including the courses required to qualify for release from an IPP) by the prison authorities, it is often simply impossible for an IPP prisoner to undergo the course required. Unless he has done the course, the parole board won’t consider him for release, even though he has served his tariff. So he has undergone the punishment imposed by the judge, but can’t be released because he can’t do the course that alone will satisfy the parole board that he is unlikely to commit a further offence.

Replies


Guest

#3 Re: IPP

2012-04-16 17:18:03

#2: Katherine Gleeson - IPP

The High Court has rightly held that it is illegal to detain  people
until they can prove that they are safe but yet deny them the  means to
do so.

The only wonder is that it took a court  judgment to
demonstrate to ministers the fault in their Alice in  Wonderland logic.
It is a life sentence in all but name. The only real  difference is that
it can be given for far less serious offences. The  Prison Reform Trust
has come across people given tariffs for their  sentence of just 18
weeks. The tariff, as in the life sentence, is the  minimum time that
must be served. It represents the retribution or  punishment for the
offence. But even after the tariff, the person  remains in prison until
they have done the courses necessary to  demonstrate they are ready for
release. But because of grotesque prison  over-crowding and the low
priority given to ‘education’ (including the  courses required to
qualify for release from an IPP) by the prison  authorities, it is often
simply impossible for an IPP prisoner to  undergo the course required.
Unless he has done the course, the parole  board won’t consider him for
release, even though he has served his  tariff. So he has undergone the
punishment imposed by the judge, but  can’t be released because he can’t
do the course that alone will satisfy  the parole board that he is
unlikely to commit a further offence.

Katherine Gleeson

#4 Re: IPP

2012-04-16 17:19:16

#2: Katherine Gleeson - IPP

Target: LASPO, The House ofLords, The Government, Ken Clarke, The

Target: LASPO, The House ofLords, The Government, Ken Clarke, The Queen

 

Sponsored by: Lorna Elliott -Solicitor, IPP Prisoners Familys Campaign & Emmersons Solicitors

 

IPP is inhumane, against humanrights and breaches Human Rights Act 1998 Article 3 Prohibition of Torture - Noone shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment orpunishmentIPP stands for Indeterminate sentence for Public Protection - What thisactually means is if you were to go to court and receive a 2 year sentence, 3years, 4 years, etc..... with IPP you could be imprisoned for up to 99 years.Atthe moment it is still up to the prisoner to prove that they are safe forrelease which is what makes it impossible as you cannot prove you are safe torelease as you are in prison.It is then up to a parole board to decide if theyfeel you are ready to be released back in to society, so prisoners and theirfamilies do not know IF or WHEN they will EVER be released, this in itself ismental TORTURE, DEGRADING & INHUMANE.There are currently over 3,200prisoners that are over their tariff which is costing £41,000 each year foreach prisoner to remain in prison. For 3,200 prisoners this amounts to£131,200,000 each year and in total there are 88,000 prisoners in prison inthe UK.The main point of our campaign is not to argue whether or not theprisoners deserved to go to prison - The fact of the matter is that even if itmeans that prisoners are given longer sentences - be it 2 years, 3 years, 5years, 10 years, or even 25 years - then every human on this planet deserves toknow when they will be home with their children and/or families again, theydeserve to know what time they have to serve, change the existing IPP sentencesover to determinate sentences. less

 

IPP is inhumane, against humanrights and breaches Human Rights Act 1998 Article 3 Prohibition of Torture - Noone shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment orpunishmentIPP stands for Indeterminate sentence for Public Protection - What thisactually means is if you were to go to court and receive a 2 year sentence, 3years, 4 years, etc..... with IPP you could be imprisoned for up to 99 years.At the moment it is still up to the prisoner to prove that they are safe forrelease which is what makes it impossible as you cannot prove you are safe torelease as you are in prison. It is then up to a parole board to decide if theyfeel you are ready to be released back in to society, so prisoners and theirfamilies do not know IF or WHEN they will EVER be released, this in itself ismental TORTURE, DEGRADING & INHUMANE. There are currently over 3,200prisoners that are over their tariff which is costing £41,000 each year foreach prisoner to remain in prison. to remain in prison. For 3,200 prisonersthis amounts to £131,200,000 each year and in total there are 88,000 prisonersin prison in the UK. The main point of our campaign is not to argue whether ornot the prisoners deserved to go to prison - The fact of the matter is thateven if it means that prisoners are given longer sentences - be it 2 years, 3years, 5 years, 10 years, or even 25 years - then every human on this planetdeserves to know when they will be home with their children and/or familiesagain, they deserve to know what time they have to serve, change the existingIPP sentences over to determinate sentences.

 

Petition http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Determinate-Sentences-for-IPP/

Ipp links: https://www.facebook.com/groups/322989171073819/#!/groups/322989171073819/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/322989171073819/#!/profile.php?id=100002699840021