The President of the Prison Governors Association of Great Britain, Tom Wheatley, urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham “to be bold and act” to end the problem of indeterminate prison sentences, which also exacerbates the prison overcrowding crisis.
Wheatley called on the prime minister to find a “long-term solution” for nearly 2,300 prisoners still serving sentences under the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP), or “imprisonment for public protection.” This call came amid government efforts to free up prison spaces following criticism of the early release program.
According to Wheatley, who heads the organization representing prison leaders across the country, it is time for the government to take “decisive measures” to finally end the injustice associated with IPP. This would also free up hundreds of prison spaces. He urged Justice Minister Alex Norris to find a way to stop the early release of two killers of police officer Andrew Harper and to consider the issue of “clearly unfair” prison sentences as one of the potential measures to free up spaces.
Consequences of IPP sentences and prison overcrowding
Wheatley noted that the execution of these indeterminate sentences has created “problems of conscience” for prison governors. In particular, some members of the association found it difficult to cope with cases where IPP prisoners under their supervision took their own lives after losing hope of release. At least 96 prisoners serving such sentences took their own lives in prison, having lost hope of ever being released.
He warned that abandoning the provisions of the Sentencing Act, which were supposed to ensure the early release of 5,000 prisoners from next month, risks leaving the penal system in a state of constant overcrowding and on the brink of crisis.
“We are really reaching a point where prisons are under such constant pressure, overcrowded for so long and have been operating with insufficient staff for so long that the system is cracking at the seams,” said Wheatley. He added that if the number of prisoners is not brought to a manageable level, some of them may be released more dangerous than they were before imprisonment.
“If you cannot rehabilitate people, you are not protecting society,” he noted. According to him, releasing people without changes in their behavior or even in a worse state than before committing the crime increases the risk to the public.
Wheatley, who has managed six prisons, stated that politicians’ desire to demonstrate toughness on crime has led to “sentence inflation,” contributing to the current crisis as the average length of sentences has sharply increased in recent years.
Amid public criticism, Burnham has already excluded rapists and those who involve children in criminal activities from the early release measures under the Labour Party’s Sentencing Act. He is now reportedly considering excluding those convicted of manslaughter after a backlash over the inclusion of the killers of police officer Harper in the early release program.
Over one million people have signed a petition calling for the prevention of the release of two teenagers after serving half of their 13-year sentence for manslaughter.
Wheatley acknowledged that the reaction of victims and their families to such decisions is entirely understandable but warned that this emotional approach has been used repeatedly to shape sentencing policy, leading to the current situation. He fears that Burnham’s response to public outrage will be another form of “sentence inflation.”
He urged the prime minister to listen to victims and their families but also to consider the broader issues of the justice system, as prisons need to ensure sufficient reserve of free spaces for normal functioning.
“This means that we may have to change the length of sentences and reduce them,” he said. According to him, it is also worth looking for other ways to work with people who commit crimes and address the root causes of criminal behavior. For example, in cases of drug addiction, help in overcoming it may be more effective than keeping a person in an overcrowded and under-resourced prison.
Justice Minister Alex Norris is to present a plan to tackle prison overcrowding to Parliament in September. Among the potential measures that the prime minister has already identified to free up spaces are accelerating the deportation of foreign offenders, using some women’s prisons to house men, and finding a solution to the “long-standing injustice” associated with IPP sentences.
Indeterminate IPP sentences, which The Independent newspaper has been calling to review for over two years, were abolished in 2012, but the abolition was not retroactive. Introduced during the New Labour government as part of a tougher crime policy, they were given to many repeat offenders, even for relatively minor crimes. As a result, thousands of people were left without a set release date, and some of them served terms that were 22 times longer than the original sentence.
The government is also facing legal action after the United Nations, which has long expressed concern about the psychological consequences of such punishments, stated in its legal opinion last month that some IPP prisoners are being held arbitrarily.
The union has been calling for an end to indeterminate IPP sentences since 2017. According to Wheatley, these sentences have resulted in some prisoners growing up behind bars, feeling that their punishment “will last forever.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said that “it is right that these sentences were abolished.” According to him, the annual report on IPP shows significant improvement in the support of such offenders, including through broader access to rehabilitation and psychological help. The ministry stated that they “are considering what more can be done,” and the justice minister “is reviewing reforms of these unfair sentences.”
Source: The Independent UK
