Prisons & Probation – Latest News:<\/p>\n
There is consensus in parliament that indeterminate sentences are unjust. So why is the government dragging its heels?<\/p>\n
Last year I tried to lay to rest a ghost that has haunted four successive governments: the fate of those still in prison under imprisonment for public protection (IPP)<\/a> sentences. The sentences, now widely acknowledged as both wrong in principle and unworkable in practice, were described by the former supreme court justice Lord Brown as the \u201cgreatest single stain<\/a> on our criminal justice system\u201d and by David Blunkett as the \u201cbiggest regret<\/a>\u201d of his time in government. <\/em>Yet, as I quickly found out, there is still a lack of political will to end this injustice \u2013 and neither the government nor the opposition supported my amendment<\/a> to the victims and prisoners bill.<\/p>\n IPP sentences were introduced in 2003 as a new form of custodial sentence. Designed to appear tough on crime, they were indeterminate sentences that could be given to offenders who had committed violent or sexual offences and were deemed to pose a significant risk of causing harm to the public. Unlike a normal sentence, those given an IPP sentence would have to serve a minimum tariff in prison before being detained for an indefinite period until they could prove to the Parole Board that they were no longer a risk.<\/p>\n Sir Bob Neill KC (Hon) is the member of parliament for Bromley and Chislehurst and a former local government minister. He is currently chair of the justice select committee<\/p> Continue reading...<\/a>\n<\/li> A devoted father with a zest for life, he was given an indeterminate sentence in 2006. He is still locked up \u2013 and losing hope that he will ever be released<\/p>\n In 2006, Martin Myers got in a scrape over a cigarette. He asked a young man if he had a spare fag. The man declined to give him one. Myers came from a well-known Traveller family. The man, Myers says, made a derogatory comment about Travellers, so Myers gave up the niceties. He threatened to punch him if he didn\u2019t hand him a cigarette.<\/p>\n The young man ran away. He then went to the police in Luton and told them what had happened. The police were familiar with Myers. He had previous convictions for dangerous driving, assault, theft and burglary. Myers was arrested, charged and convicted of attempted street robbery. On 8\u00a0March 2006, he was given a tariff \u2013 the minimum time he could serve\u00a0\u2013 of 19 months and 27 days.<\/p> Continue reading...<\/a>\n<\/li> Stuart Potts is an unlikely do-gooder \u2013 a former crack addict who has hit rock bottom more than once. But since 2020 he has offered hundreds of homeless people a bed in his small flat \u2013 and for many of them, it has been life-changing<\/p>\n When Jade and John came across Stuart Potts early this year, they were sleeping rough in Manchester city centre. It was during January\u2019s brutal cold snap, but the pair couldn\u2019t find a homeless shelter that would take them in as a couple, and they didn\u2019t want to be separated. \u201cWe\u2019ve been on the streets together; we\u2019ve been through some of the worst nights of our life together,\u201d said Jade, who is 38, with a hoarse voice and a broad Rochdale accent.<\/p>\n Still, when someone from a local charity told them about a man putting homeless people up in his own house, they were suspicious. \u201cI thought he was just going to be some fucking\u00a0\u2026\u00a0\u201d Jade paused, looking for the right word, \u201cteacher<\/em> or something.\u201d But when they met for a pint to scope him out, Jade was immediately reassured. \u201cHe\u2019d been on the streets, and he\u2019d been to prison. He was really normal, we just felt comfortable. He\u2019s not judging.\u201d They stayed at his flat that night.<\/p> Continue reading...<\/a>\n<\/li> Exclusive: First study of its kind finds prisoners are 28% less likely to receive treatment for cancer<\/p>\n Prisoners diagnosed with cancer are more likely than people in the general population to die of the disease, according to research<\/a>.<\/p>\n A study has calculated that compared with cancer patients in the general population, patients in English prisons are 28% less likely to receive treatment for cancer, particularly surgery to remove tumours, and have a 9% increased risk of death \u2013 half of which is due to treatment differences.<\/p> Continue reading...<\/a>\n<\/li> Coroner\u2019s jury made first-ever finding after hearing of failings at Woodhill prison that contributed to Robert Fenlon\u2019s death <\/p>\n The death of a man who took his own life in prison in Buckinghamshire has been recorded as an unlawful killing, in what is believed to be the first finding of its type by an inquest jury.<\/p>\n The family of Robert Fenlon \u2013 who have been campaigning since his death while on remand at Woodhill prison in March 2016 \u2013 called on authorities to engage in \u201cserious reflection\u201d after the finding by the inquest, which was told of a catalogue of failures.<\/p>\n In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org<\/p> Continue reading...<\/a>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prisons & Probation – Latest News:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purdonlaw.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purdonlaw.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purdonlaw.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purdonlaw.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purdonlaw.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/purdonlaw.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69,"href":"https:\/\/purdonlaw.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions\/69"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purdonlaw.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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