Thread by @JusticeUnions

Westminster Hall debate on Imprisonment for Public Protection (#IPP) Sentences, @CommonsJustice report and Government response – Thursday 27 April 2023: highlights 🧵 1/44

Opening the debate @CommonsJustice chair @neill_bob explains #IPP sentences were abolished in 2012 mainly because “far more people fell within the scope of the scheme than had been the political intention”, but Govt “did not deal with those who were already serving sentences”2/44

“621 of those prisoners are at least 10 years over their tariff and 222 of those received a tariff of less than two years” @neill_bob reveals – “five times longer than the index sentence that … the judge who heard the facts thought was the appropriate tariff for the offence”3/44

Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood – “one of the most distinguished lawyers of his generation” – has described #IPP as “a stain upon the reputation of the British legal system, and he is absolutely right” @neill_bob points out 4/44

.@neill_bob reveals #IPP probe saw “the largest number of submissions @CommonsJustice has ever received for any inquiry that we have undertaken”, including 100s of handwritten letters from prisoners that were moving and articulate “but also frequently deeply distressing” 5/44

“It’s not easy for #prison and #probation staff” to manage #IPPs, @neill_bob insists, calling it an “injustice to them” too – thanking “Donna Mooney @formybr0ther & Shirley Debono @LloydSewing, both of whom gave oral evidence to us on behalf of @UNGRIPP” @POAUnion @Napo_News 6/44

.@neill_bob highlights Tommy Nicol’s suicide in 2015: “@formybr0ther told us of the difficulties her brother Tommy faced with enrolling on courses he needed to complete to demonstrate progression … He often told her & his family that the sentence was ‘psychological torture’”7/44

.@LloydSewing’s son is a released #IPP prisoner, explains @neill_bob, but she told @CommonsJustice he was “afraid of the telephone calling in case it was the #probation service – that’s not a happy situation to put probation officers in, never mind anything else” @Napo_News 8/44

#IPP prisoners “are being set up to fail” because too often “they can’t get on the courses or the interventions” that are the primary means by which they “can demonstrate rehabilitation and risk reduction” warns @neill_bob – describing the system as “simply dysfunctional” 9/44

Govt “doesn’t accept that offenders serving the sentence in the community are being recalled unnecessarily” notes @neill_bob, yet in 2021 only “34% of #IPP recalls were as a result of further charges for new offences” he reveals, expressing concern about the remaining 66% 10/44

We must “get rid of an irredeemably flawed system by enacting primary legislation [for] a resentencing exercise [for] all prisoners still serving … an #IPP sentence” @neill_bob insists, quoting former LCJ Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd: “It’s the only fair and just thing to do” 11/44

Govt “didn’t just reject our key recommendation on resentencing” warns @neill_bob, “it did so with such a scarcity of evidence to support its reasoning [and] fell back upon simplistic mantras ... It’s as shoddy a response as I have ever seen to a Select Committee report” 12/44

With new Lord Chancellor @AlexChalkChelt, “we are now in a position, politically, to move on” explains @neill_bob, calling for Govt to admit “we need to revisit our response – we need to recognise that we did not do justice to all the evidence presented to us” 13/44

“There’s no shame in saying: ‘Look, we got this wrong’” @neill_bob insists. “There’d be no shame in the Government saying: ‘Ok, the response we gave really wasn’t up to scratch – we can go back and have a look again’” at an #IPP resentencing exercise 14/44

#IPP prisoners “get trapped into this Kafkaesque process” of never meeting society’s requirements, warns @johnmcdonnellMP, with “a sense of hopelessness … pushing many of them over the edge into mental health conditions, breakdowns and then suicides” 15/44

Having “discussed the issue with the unions involved” via #JUPG, @johnmcdonnellMP explains that #prison officers find it “impossible to deal with the hopelessness felt by these prisoners” – adding that @POAUnion support @CommonsJustice’s #IPP resentencing proposal 16/44

“@Napo_News is the same” in support for #IPP resentencing plan, explains @johnmcdonnellMP, adding that every expert opinion @CommonsJustice went to, “whether it’s the lawyers or the #prison officers or the #probation officers”, say “there has to be some form of shift” 17/44

Concerns that this “will create a problem of a mass release” of #IPPs have already been addressed by @CommonsJustice with an expert committee, explains @johnmcdonnellMP, warning that “we could be here in another 10 or 15 years’ time” if Govt don’t “seize this opportunity” 18/44

Highlighting the case of an #IPP prisoner who received a two-year tariff in 2012 for stealing a mobile phone, @JamesDalyMP points out that Tommy “has served over a decade more than his tariff yet he is viewed as somebody who cannot be released – now how is that possible?” 19/44

On the number of #IPP recalls to #prison, @JamesDalyMP highlights how “66% of them had not committed a further offence”, asking: “If you breach a curfew, why are you getting sent back to prison? That’s not evidence of a risk of harm” 20/44

“People’s lives are being blighted by politicians deciding they don’t want to have the risk of somebody coming out and doing something and then it being a headline in the newspaper,” @JamesDalyMP storms, adding: “That is not the way to make policy” #IPP 21/44

“The rate of self-harm amongst #IPP prisoners is twice that of those serving a life sentence” @JamesDalyMP warns, adding: “It is the sentence that is creating this – it is the deterioration of people’s mental health as a result of the sentence” 22/44

“We all know that we cannot have this situation going on in perpetuity because we may as well book this room every 5 years and come back and say the same thing” @JamesDalyMP insists, warning #IPP “is a national scandal, it is a disgrace, it is a stain on the justice system” 23/44

Last year, nine #IPP prisoners took their own lives – “the highest number since the sentence was introduced”, @JanetDaby adds, warning: “The Govt has given up, locked the door and, it seems, thrown away the key for almost 3,000 prisoners currently serving IPP sentences” 24/44

Quoting @Napo_News, @JanetDaby explains that #IPP prisoners “are denied release due to bad behaviour when in fact we should be looking at how imprisonment and the trauma this causes can escalate these behaviours. Many prisoners as a result are in a never-ending cycle” 25/44

“There are thousands of vacancies for #prison officers across our country but the Govt don’t publish full data on this” @JanetDaby explains, which “means many prisons are unable to offer a full and meaningful prison regime, with quality education and skills training” 26/44

“Almost the entire criminal justice system, from #court to #probation, is beset by backlogs, staff shortages & inexperienced staff,” warns @JanetDaby – adding: “Even if a prisoner is released, probation officers are overstretched & cannot provide the support that is needed” 27/44

“I’m speaking today at this debate on behalf of several families in my constituency of Liverpool West Derby who have been affected by #IPP sentences,” @IanByrneMP explains, adding he recently wrote to the former Justice Secretary about the sentences but received no response 28/44

“#Prisons did not – still do not – have adequate rehabilitation services, so prisoners are unable to access interventions they need to demonstrate they are no longer a risk,” warns @IanByrneMP, adding: “It just defies belief” 29/44

Prisoner mental health is in crisis, @IanByrneMP insists, with “81 suicides recorded against those serving #IPPs since 2005, according to @UNGRIPP. Tragically, it has been reported that only yesterday a young man took his own life serving an #IPP sentence at @HmpManchester” 30/44

“I am a signatory to EDM 591, which calls on Govt to implement the findings of @CommonsJustice’s report” explains @IanByrneMP, asking if they will rethink their response “following the dismay of families, campaigners, trade unions & indeed the Justice Select Committee” #IPP 31/44

“Countless testimonies and studies have shown the link between serving an #IPP sentence and deteriorating mental health, self-harm and suicide,” shadow minister @elliereeves explains, adding that 11% of all self-harm incidents come from this 3% of the #prison population 32/44

“As @JNRussell10 outlined, most recalls to #prison are for non-compliance with licence conditions rather than for new crimes,” @elliereeves reveals. “Failing services are leading to unsuccessful licences. For too many #IPP releases, this means we’re setting them up to fail” 33/44

Shadow #prisons minister @elliereeves pledges that “if Govt is willing to bring forward meaningful proposals on how to solve [#IPPs] Labour will engage with them in a constructive, cross-party way”, and commits to “work with them to move forward on this issue constructively”34/44

“Problems don’t just lie with #IPPs” warns @elliereeves but with “a #Probation Service buckling at the seams” – and, “after over a decade of underfunding and chaotic organisational change, which has led to many experienced staff leaving, it is today failing” @Napo_News 35/44

Shadow minister @elliereeves warns “our criminal justice system has been pushed to the brink”, again pledging that, if Govt bring forward proposals to address #IPP sentences, “we will engage with them in a constructive, cross-party way with the priority of public safety” 36/44

Minister @DamianHinds says “this debate provides an opportunity to share some details” of the new #IPP Action Plan, insisting he is “confident it will make a genuine difference to the way that IPP offenders are rehabilitated and supported through to safe release” 37/44

“Any resentencing exercise which aims to provide #IPP prisoners with a definite release date would inevitably result in the immediate release of a considerable number of offenders” claims @DamianHinds. @JamesDalyMP: “What evidence basis does he have to make that statement?” 38/44

Intervening, @johnmcdonnellMP points out to @DamianHinds that @CommonsJustice’s plan is “to bring together an expert panel which would advise on the process – that doesn’t mean that expert panel would precipitously leap us forward into a mass release or anything like that” 39/44

Minister @DamianHinds insists “it’s extremely important to allow a proportionate licence period after release to ensure their safe management” – but @neill_bob asks if there’s any evidence “that suggests that the risk is significantly greater at five years as opposed to 10” 40/44

“We are going to be internally reviewing our recall processes” claims Minister @DamianHinds, adding that “we are also asking @JNRussell10 to undertake a thematic inspection of recalls specifically for #IPP and for that to happen in this calendar year” 41/44

Minister @DamianHinds claims “our key priority is managing the sentences of those serving an #IPP to a consistently high quality, ensuring that the delivery of systems and processes in every #prison and every #probation region facilitates risk reduction” 42/44

Winding up, @neill_bob points out that “closed minds still seem to prevail in relation to the key issue of resentencing”, adding: “I have a draft clause to enact the recommendations of the report for a resentencing exercise” that he will move to the Victims & Prisoners Bill 43/44

Watch in full: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/38…
Hansard transcript: hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-0…
@CommonsJustice report: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmse…
Govt response: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmse… 44/44