Britain’s former top judge has backed The Independent’s campaign for prisoners serving indefinite jail terms to have their sentences reviewed, and called for the government to take responsibility for the “morally wrong” punishment.
John Thomas, a member of the House of Lords who served as lord chief justice from 2013 to 2017, fears that without action, those sent down under abolished imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences will be “left to rot” serving a jail term that is “inherently unfair”.
Reacting to a series of shocking injustices highlighted by The Independent – including the case of James Lawrence, a father who is still in prison 18 years after he was handed an eight-month jail term for threatening someone with a fake gun – Lord Thomas said: “You just can’t keep people locked up in case they do something.”
The controversial sentences – under which offenders were handed a minimum jail term but no maximum – were ditched amid human rights concerns in 2012, seven years after they were introduced by New Labour in a bid to be tough on crime.
Despite the sentencing protocol being widely condemned, including by the UN, its abolition did not apply retrospectively, leaving thousands trapped with no release date until the Parole Board deems them safe to be let out.
Of the 2,734 IPP prisoners still incarcerated, more than 700 have served over 10 years longer than their minimum term. At least 90 IPP prisoners have taken their own lives.
Successive governments have resisted calls for IPP prisoners to be resentenced, citing fears that this could lead to potentially dangerous offenders being released into the community.
However, crossbench peer Lord Thomas, 76, believes there is significant evidence that prolonged incarceration with no hope of release is exacerbating the problem by causing prisoners harm and making them more dangerous.
“I think everyone accepts this punishment was a mistake,” he said. “It’s just morally wrong.”
With the Labour government not expected to support a recent resentencing bill tabled in the House of Lords, Lord Thomas has called for changes to the parole release test with a renewed focus on the proportionality of the punishment to the crime.
He said that dealing with the problem will require “political courage”, adding: “You take risks when it’s necessary to be fair, and these people have been treated really, really badly.”
He continued: “You can’t say, ‘Oh, they have been in a long time and now they are dangerous – and because we have made them dangerous, we can’t release them.’ I mean, you have to accept a degree of state responsibility. However you look at it, it is the state that’s caused this problem.”
The legal expert is one of five former top judges to call for urgent and decisive action to safely release all IPP prisoners amid the prison overcrowding crisis, in a recent report on sentence inflation.
The report said that sentence lengths have roughly doubled over the past 50 years, contributing to an overcrowding crisis that has left prisons failing to rehabilitate offenders effectively.
“The blunt truth is, we spend too much keeping people in prison rather than spending it keeping them out of prison,” Lord Thomas said.
He has also added his weight to The Independent’s campaign for IPP prisoners to have their sentences reviewed following a string of heartbreaking cases, including that of Thomas White, who set himself alight after serving more than 12 years for stealing a mobile phone, and Abdullahi Suleman, who has spent 19 years behind bars for a laptop robbery.
Lord Thomas said that if those prisoners had committed the same crimes today, or at any date after the jail term was abolished, they would have received a fixed sentence and long since been released.
“These people are just unlucky that their crime was in that seven-year period that this sentence was in force,” he added.
He said he believes the public will support reform despite political fears of a backlash should a released prisoner go on to commit a serious offence.
“You just can’t keep people locked up in case they do something,” he said. “It requires you to acknowledge the fundamental unfairness of what has happened, but added to which is the responsibility of the state for creating that unfairness.”
He also hit out at the recall merry-go-round experienced by many IPP prisoners, who can be hauled back to prison for minor breaches of their strict licence conditions.
He said it has left released IPP prisoners like a “puppet on a string”, as they are vulnerable to malicious or unfounded allegations that can see them recalled to prison for years longer.
Although reforms introduced before the general election, reducing the mandatory licence period from 10 years to three, are a welcome step, Lord Thomas warned that they do nothing for those “unfortunate” prisoners who have never been released.
He added: “It’s an injustice in the sense that there is this group of people who suffered a sentence that we have since recognised to be wrong, where there’s reasonably strong evidence that it harms them, yet the people who bear the consequences are the prisoners themselves and not the state.
“And accepting state responsibility, I think, enables you to say that, although the state has a duty to protect people, it also has a duty to render to those who have suffered injustice at our hands.”
Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “The IPP scandal is still a long way from being resolved, and the sentence continues to inflict misery on thousands of people still trapped in the prison system, and their families.
“The Howard League continues to work for and alongside those directly affected by this disastrous sentence, and we have been thrilled that our recently established IPP hotline has already been able to provide help and support to so many.
“We will continue to campaign and make the case for urgent IPP reform, and continue our work to address the plight of people still languishing in custody.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “It is right that IPP sentences were abolished. We are significantly shortening licence periods for rehabilitated offenders, to give them the chance to move on with their lives.
“With public protection as the number one priority, the lord chancellor is working with organisations and campaign groups to ensure appropriate action is taken to support those still serving these sentences.”
The Howard League is operating a confidential legal advice hotline for those with questions about changes to the IPP licence period. It will run until 18 December on 01209 701888
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch
