Prisoner given 10-month term will be released 11 years on

 A prisoner given a 10-month jail sentence spent 11 years behind bars because he was deemed not safe enough to release.

James Ward, 32, was given an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence after setting fire to his bed while serving a jail term for an assault.

Ward’s family said he was due to be freed imminently after they made repeated pleas to release him on the grounds of his self-harm and mental health.

His sister April told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s very bittersweet that it’s taken 10 years for the Parole Board to finally see what we’ve been shouting for over 10 years, that James is not a risk to the public.”

A Parole Board spokesman said: “We can confirm that a three-member panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of James Ward following an oral hearing on September 4 2017.”

IPPS were introduced in 2005 but scrapped in 2012. Around 3,300 prisoners are still serving an IPP.