A Catch-22
Episode 4 of Trapped is out today. You can listen here
We hope we're getting closer to unravelling the mess of the IPP prisoner scandal that's keeping thousands of people trapped on a sentence that was abolished 11 years ago and that has since caused acute harm and over 80 suicides.
If you've been listening to the episodes and you want to do something, you can tell a friend to listen to the series. Knowledge is power, and the more who know, the harder it is for injustice to take place.
Here's the team on a recent zoom call…
EPISODE 4: A Catch-22
Roddy Russell first found out what an IPP sentence was in 2011 when his brother, Robert didn't come home after serving 2-and-a-half-year tariff for a threat to kill. The brothers grew up in the Forest of Dean – a place that Roddy left as soon as he was old enough, to pursue his dream of a career in the RAF, whilst Robert went down a different path and has been in prison for the last 14 years, serving an indefinite imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence. In our latest episode Roddy travels back to the Forest of Dean to meet Robert's friends and former co-workers as he takes on his latest battle to help get his brother released. Over the years Robert's mental health has declined. This has been a big barrier to him getting parole.
Roddy outside Downing Street
To understand why IPPs are finding it so hard to get released by the parole board, I met with lawyer and parole specialist, Andrew Sperling and former prison officer Sam Samworth. Samworth explains what prison life can be like for people serving IPP sentences and how vulnerable they are to other prisoners who don't have the uncertainty of indeterminate sentences hanging over them.
Prisoners are all subject to a system of adjudications. Any rule infringement or outburst could be held against them when they come to parole. Sperling describes the constraints that the parole board have, whilst Hank Rossi of the Institute of Now and Richard Garside, Director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, discuss the barriers that prisoners may face when approaching a parole review. It’s a Catch-22 says Garside, the problems IPPs face get reproduced over time with no obvious way out.
Finally, Hank and I travel to Bristol to meet Stafford Lightman, a Professor of Medicine. He describes how the brain responds to stress and how indefinite detention exacerbates its effects for both IPP prisoners and their family members.
Since we published our last episode Lord Simon Brown has died. He was an incredible man, with a storied career, that led him all the way to being a Supreme Court Justice. I'm glad I got a chance to meet and interview him for the series as he was an icon in the fight for justice for IPPs. There's a good obituary for him in the Guardian if you'd like to know more about the work he did here
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For more info about the Campaigns for Justice for IPPs prisoners go to: UNGRIPP Twitter @UNGRIPP and IPP Committee in Action Twitter @ActionIPP