{"id":844428,"date":"2022-10-18T09:50:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T09:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/?p=1624317"},"modified":"2022-10-18T09:50:24","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T09:50:24","slug":"no-relief-on-the-horizon-for-victims-of-cruel-indefinite-prison-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/10\/18\/no-relief-on-the-horizon-for-victims-of-cruel-indefinite-prison-sentences\/","title":{"rendered":"No relief on the horizon for victims of cruel indefinite prison sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

“I\u2019m his only source of fight out here,” Clara White tells me, \u201cthat\u2019s how I can explain it, and sometimes you know the fight has gone out of me. I\u2019m fighting for my own sanity not just my brother\u2019s sanity, for my own sanity”.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2011, Clara White\u2019s brother, Thomas White, received a two-year Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP)\u00a0 sentence for stealing a mobile phone. 11 years later, he\u2019s still inside with no idea when, if ever, he\u2019ll be released. Moreover, he\u2019s spent so much time in segregation that he now finds it hard to relate to people. Clara said this has had an adverse effect on his mental health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thomas is one of over 8,000 people currently serving IPP sentences<\/a> in England and Wales. When people were sentenced to an IPP, they were only told the minimum amount of time they\u2019d spend in prison. They had no idea when, if ever, they\u2019d be finally and fully released from prison or the justice system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Clara is part of the justice campaign group <\/span>IPP Committee in Action<\/span><\/a>. It aims to:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

end the injustice of having an indeterminate sentence thrust upon our loved ones.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It also <\/span>wants to<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

get more public awareness and more politicians to come on board and help end this IPP nightmare.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But campaigners say IPPs haven\u2019t only impacted those inside prison; it\u2019s meant that the prisoners’ loved ones are “doing the time, but on the outside”.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘Irredeemably flawed’<\/b><\/h2>\n

On 28 September 2022, the <\/span>House of Commons Justice Committee<\/span><\/a> said IPP sentencing is \u201cirredeemably flawed\u201d. The committee called on the government to re-sentence all IPP prisoners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI broke down with relief\u201d, Clara tells me about hearing the news, \u201cI was floored with it\u201d. But Clara and the IPP Committee in Action realise there\u2019s still some way to go before their loved ones are free and get justice. And they want to go further. They believe a public inquiry is needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

A manifestation of maggots<\/b><\/h2>\n

The impact of an IPP sentence on a prisoner\u2019s mental health is massive. Clara thinks the prison system isn\u2019t equipped to deal with her brother\u2019s mental health. They classify what he does as \u201cbad behaviour so they segregate him\u201d instead of acknowledging his mental health problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, supporting Thomas has taken its toll on Clara:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

IPP for me has been a manifestation of, I can only describe as, maggots. It\u2019s a manifestation of like maggots, run through my family and caused us quite bad sickness. Especially myself being involved in the way I have been involved\u2026No different really than an injury to the brain from a car accident…that\u2019s the only way I can describe that my brain has started to become injured like it almost had a horrific accident.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Clara describes how Thomas has screamed at her to help him over the phone. She says she repeatedly hears these screams when she\u2019s alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

‘My mind has been detained for 11 years’<\/b><\/h2>\n

Clara fights so hard to bring awareness to Thomas\u2019s case that she struggles to detach from it. She tells me she suffers from anxiety, night tremors and sleepwalking while talking about his case. On one occasion, she fell so ill the police detained her under the Mental Health Act and she has been diagnosed with PTSD.<\/span><\/p>\n

She tells me that \u201calthough physically I\u2019m not detained under the IPP\u2026my mind has certainly been detained for 11 years under this sentence \u201c.<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s resigned herself to thinking her brother could die inside, and says, “it\u2019s a death sentence, IPP”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cusp of real justice?<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Justice Committee\u2019s recommendations are hopefully the beginning of the end of this traumatic nightmare. But campaigners are hoping that it\u2019s not to late to save their loved ones. As Clara says:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

I don\u2019t know if my brother will survive this any longer, I pray he does… Because he\u2019s just existing, he\u2019s not living\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether he dies by suicide, or a drugs overdose or someone takes his life in prison, no matter how you look at it, his life is at risk every single day.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This barbaric sentencing practice should never have existed in the first place. And even if Thomas and the thousands of other IPP prisoners are released, nothing will compensate them for the trauma they and their loved ones have been forced to endure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Featured image via Unsplash – Jonny Gios<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

By Peadar O'Cearnaigh<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019m his only source of fight out here,\u201d Clara White tells me, \u201cthat\u2019s how I can explain it, and sometimes you know the fight \u2026 <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/div>\n

By Peadar O’Cearnaigh<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1542,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1542"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":845391,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844428\/revisions\/845391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}