Thread by @WritersofColour

Exclusive: Thousands left in English and Welsh prisons without release dates, despite controversial indefinite sentences long being scrapped - @SamanthaAsumadu for @openDemocracy
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy "Shirley began campaigning for justice on the issue of IPP prisoners when her own son, Shaun Lloyd, was given one in 2006.

“No IPP prisoner is the same when they come out,” she tells me. "

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy “My boy is white so didn’t get the racism, but if you are Black you put up with so much racism [in prison]. Leroy has been called Black c**t, monkey – he has been called everything.”

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy "In a small Cardiff cafe, Shirley tells me about another man, James*. When he was 16, James punched a boy in the face and stole his bike. He, too, was given an IPP sentence in 2007."

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy James was moved to a mental health hospital more than four years ago “because there is no mental health care in prison”, Shirley says.

“His mental health [problems] were mistaken for bad behaviour.”

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy "Shirley tells me that, the last time James’s mother heard from her son, he was in a wheelchair and had been receiving electric shock therapy.

“He was crying: ‘Mum, they are trying to kill me, they are trying to kill me.’ His mum is in despair.”"

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy IPP sentences were introduced in 2003 by the then justice secretary, David Blunkett. They came into law two years later. Blunkett has since expressed regret, saying he “got it wrong”.

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy One of the many controversial aspects of IPPs is the lengthy and arduous licence conditions – rules that must be followed if prisoners are ever finally released. Ex-prisoners can be recalled to custody at any time during their licence period.

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy "...Blunkett himself told fellow peers: “Out of the 3,000 people who are still in prison on IPP, 1,300 of them are there because of recalls. That is 100% up from 2016..."

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy "...If we are not careful, that trajectory will lead to more prisoners being in prison on IPP on recall than are actually in prison for the original IPP sentence applied, which is a farcical situation and a tragedy for them.”

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy Campaigners have so far managed to get only 1,300 signatures on their petition to stop IPP prisoners being recalled to prison without being found guilty of new offences.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/5995…

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy As all such UK government petitions run for six months, they have only two months to reach the 100,000 needed for a debate in Parliament. It’s hard to get people to care about imprisoned working-class people, the campaigners have found.

@SamanthaAsumadu @openDemocracy [additional comment - MSK]
More people need to take the time to listen to this from last year, to understand even just a fraction of the horror faced by IPP prisoners - though it shouldn't take that to get people to sign against a vile injustice

parliamentlive.tv/event/index/04…

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