Bogus Diagnosis
We've had a bit of a break over the summer, and are back with Trapped Ep. 6: Bogus Diagnosis
In this episode we report on Bernadette, and Abdulahi's story, which highlights the shortcomings with prisoner mental health treatment, and how the recall system is failing IPP prisoners.
We travel to Cardiff to meet Bernadette, whose husband Abdulahi received an IPP sentence in 2005. His original tariff was two years and he has been recalled back to prison four times.
The number of people serving IPP sentences like Abdulahi who have been recalled to prison despite NOT being charged with a further offence has soared in recent years. It is up almost a third since 2015.
Abdulahi was born in Somalia and moved to the UK as a child. He has bipolar disorder, but was rediagnosed as having a personality disorder and taken off medication whilst in prison. His mental health has deteriorated since being in prison and because of the recalls and anxiety-inducing uncertainty of his IPP sentence.
Prison and Parole solicitor, Dean Kingham and Senior Lecturer in law at the University of York, Ailbe O’Louhglin explain the history of the Offender Personality Disorder diagnosis, which is considered controversial amongst many psychologists and psychiatrists.
We also get a call from an IPP serving prisoner we are calling Mitch. He was released in 2018 after 11 years (his tarriff was 2 years) and recalled back to prison the same year for breaching licence conditions. The recall has also had a profound impact upon his mental health.
We speak to James Daly MP, who is on the Justice Committee which conducted a year long enquiry into imprisonment for public protection sentences in 2022 that concluded ‘the psychological harm of the IPP sentence on individuals is profound, and many IPP prisoners have subsequently developed mental health needs’.
Over the weekend I went to cover an IPP protest outside Belmarsh prison, which will feature in our next episode alongside the United Nations’ intervention on IPPs at the beginning of the month.
Following a campaign run by IPP Committee In Action to gain support for their cause from the UN, Dr Alice Edwards, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture released a statement saying she had written to the UK government unequivocally condemning the IPP sentence.
“The distress, depression and anxiety caused by this scheme is severe for prisoners and their families. For many, these sentences have become cruel, inhuman and degrading […] They have been acknowledged by successive UK governments and even described as indefensible by a justice minister -- yet they persist"
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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