‘How many more will they watch die?’: Families’ fury as Labour set to reject review of indefinite jail terms
Families are warning the government will have “blood on its hands” if it turns its back on 3,000 prisoners as Labour is set to reject a review of cruel indefinite jail terms, The Independent has learned.
Among those with no sign of being released is James Lawrence who has served almost 18 years after being originally sentenced to just eight months, and Thomas White, who was sentenced to 12 years for stealing a phone.
Calls for these prisoners to be resentenced have only grown in light of the early release of thousands of prisoners to ease overcrowding. Indefinite sentences were scrapped in 2012 amid human rights concerns, but not for those already detained.
A growing number of high-profile campaigners, including Lord Blunkett – who was home secretary at the time imprisonment for public protection (IPPs) sentences were introduced – have called for them to go, while families say it will be “unforgivable” if they refuse.
The Independent understands from Ministry of Justice sources that resentencing is not being considered as a result of concerns over a number of dangerous prisoners being released.
However, Labour peer Lord Woodley, who earlier this month tabled a bill for all IPP prisoners to be resentenced, insists there is “everything to play for”.
“Ministers are not yet on the same page when it comes to the resentencing exercise my private member’s bill is proposing,” he told The Independent.
“But they share my determination to end the scandal of the IPP sentence once and for all. So there is everything to play for.”
Heartbroken relatives of those serving IPP sentences have issued impassioned pleas for leaders to help their loved ones – including a man who set himself alight and another who went on hunger strike for 61 days.
The developments come as:
IPP jail terms were introduced under New Labour in 2005 and saw offenders given a minimum tariff but no maximum. They were scrapped in 2012 amid human rights concerns, but not retrospectively.
Of 2,734 remaining IPP prisoners with no release date, more than 700 have served more than 10 years longer than their minimum tariff.
The government is facing growing pressure to resentence them after at least 90 inmates have taken their own lives under the jail term, which has been branded “psychological torture” by the UN.
Clara White, whose brother Thomas’s mental health has deteriorated in prison where he has languished for 12 years for stealing a mobile phone, said it will take a “stronger fight than ever before” to finally put an end to the cruel jail term.
She urged politicians, including Lord Blunkett, who has admitted he got it wrong, to do everything in their power to ensure the bill succeeds.
She told The Independent: “If this bill does not pass, it is a very strong message to the public just how much they care nothing about any of us. We were stabbed in the back decades ago. None of our lives have been the same since – to stab us in the back a second time will be unforgivable.
“How many more people will they watch die? If this bill has problems, sit down and iron them out. Lie awake all night in turmoil like my mum and I do until it is perfect.
“Some of us don’t have another year of fighting left in us. God forbid another prisoner takes their own life. If they do, remember this: their blood is on your hands.”
Mother Jacqueline Ali, whose son Yusuf has twice gone on hunger strike as he loses hope of being freed, added: “This is a matter of life and death. They know prisoners are dying and they are allowing it to go on because of the red tape.
