Crisis in prisons fuelled by delays in release
MPs press for action to clear backlog of cases
MPS ARE calling for urgent action to assess the cases of more than 300 prisoners in Yorkshire who are facing indefinite jail sentences, warning that poor access to rehabilitation programmes and delays signing-off their release are fuelling a crisis in the prison system. Figures obtained by The Yorkshire Post through a Freedom of Information request reveal there are currently 309 inmates in the region detained under now-obsolete Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences – 213 of whom have out-stayed their original tariff.
Earlier this year, the head of the public body charged with deciding whether these prisoners are safe for release warned a backlog in processing their cases had left many “stuck, festering” in a cell.
The organisation has stressed it is committed to tackling these delays, but MPs argue the Government must do more to ensure IPP prisoners are being successfully rehabilitated.
“The Conservative Government urgently needs to come forward with solutions that keep the public safe and that ensure that prisoners have access to the rehabilitation programs they need so they can leave prison as reformed characters,” said shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon.
“IPP is creating an unnecessary burden on a prison system that is already at breaking point... The crisis in our prisons is fuelling a mental health epidemic and making rehabilitation much less likely. All of these cases in our region must be urgently assessed. Where people have served the minimum tariff and no longer pose a danger to society, they should be given clarity as to when they will be released.”
IPP sentences were introduced in 2005 to ensure dangerous offenders stay in custody for as long as they present a risk to society. Once an inmate has served a minimum “tariff”, they are required to satisfy the Parole Board they no longer pose a threat before they can be released. The sentences were abolished in 2012 but not for existing prisoners.
Parole Board chairman Nick Hardwick has called for changes to the test to determine whether a inmate is fit for release and warning that some individuals “are stuck, festering, in prison long after the punishment part of the sentence”.
The figures show 213 offenders serving IPP sentences in the region have already served their tariff. Wakefield has the highest overall number of IPP inmates (63) but Hull has the high- est number that are “post-tariff ” (52). Hull MP Emma Hardy said she would contact Justice Secretary David Lidington, “to urge the Government to speed up the process of reviewing these cases”.
The Parole Board said they were working to ensure the majority of IPP prisoners had been safely released, “or... have clear plans in place that will enable them to progress”, by the end of 2017.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We have been working closely with the Parole Board to process these cases as quickly as possible and, earlier this year, we set up a new unit focused on this.”
The crisis in our prisons is fuelling a mental health epidemic. Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon.
THERESA MAY can’t win with Boris Johnson after her Foreign Secretary appeared to go rogue with a 4,000-word essay on Brexit which continues to upstage the Prime Minister’s pending speech on Friday about the terms of Britain’s impending departure from the European Union.
If she sacks her onetime leadership rival for disloyalty – and Mrs May has been looking for an opportunity to reassert her authority – she will inflame, still further, the simmering civil war in the Tory party that has been coming to a boil since June’s election miscalculation.
If, as appears likely, the Tory leader indulges Mr Johnson, it re-enforces the impression that Mrs May is at the mercy of her more Eurosceptic ministers and MPs who are in no mood to compromise.
Yet these events do reveal the folly of marginalising Mr Johnson who was the most high-profile advocate of Brexit in the EU referendum. If the Foreign Secretary is not party to talks about Britain’s changing status with Europe, and the rest of the world, what is the purpose of this supposed Great Office of State?
And just who is in charge of Government strategy? Is it Brexit Secretary David Davis; is it Mr Johnson who was described as “a back seat driver” by Home Secretary Amber Rudd – or is it Mrs May who wouldn’t be travelling to Florence on Friday to make her views known if negotiations with the EU were proceeding authoritatively?
If the Prime Minister has any sense, she will present a draft of her planned speech to the whole Cabinet this week and ask for the full support of each and every colleague – including Mr Johnson. It’s called collective responsibility. If there are any dissenters, they will be honour-bound to resign there and then.