Fighting torture of indefinite sentences

Wandsworth prison

Abdullahi Suleman stole a laptop in 2005 when he was 22 years old. He was given a minimum sentence of three years and 274 days. Twenty years later, Abdullahi is still in prison.

This is because Abdullahi was given Imprisonment for Public Protection Order (IPP). These are indefinite sentences. And even those released can be sent straight back to prison without a trial.

The IPPs were introduced under Tony Blair’s Labour government by the home secretary David Blunkett in 2005. They were scrapped in 2012 when the European Court of Human Rights condemned them as “inhumane”.

But they were not banned ­retrospectively. Today, over 2,700 IPP prisoners are still in prison. Some 700 people have served sentences of between ten and 20 years longer than their ­original sentence.

The Labour government has refused to order resentencing for those serving IPP sentences. The injustice IPPs cause reflect how the prison system as a whole make society more dysfunctional, unequal and unsafe. Abdullahi fled war in Somalia as a child. He was arrested in 2005 and released in 2011.

Over the next few years, Abdullahi was recalled to prison four times in relation to treatment for his bipolar disorder. In 2017, Abdullahi was recalled to prison for seven years for missing a hospital appointment. He has since been denied release by three parole hearings.

His partner, Bernadette Emerson, is the co-founder of the Action Group for IPP. Bernadette spoke to Judy Cox.

Tell me more about Abdullahi

We got together around 22 years ago. Police arrested him in 2005.

My partner has bipolar disorder. He was told to go on this course in prison. He was removed from the course because he “disengaged”.

He had to complete a course before he could be considered for parole. They advised him to keep off his medication because it stopped him from concentrating.

In 2011, Abdullahi was released. He was sectioned in 2012. He got a community treatment order, but the probation service transferred it to the IPP. We had no say in this. It means that if he has a mental health crisis, he goes back to prison, not to hospital.

Abdullahi wanted to lower his medication. They said he would need a follow up appointment to see if he was coping. He missed the appointment and was recalled to prison.

This has had a huge impact on our family life. The children have grown up grieving for a parent who isn’t dead.

Prisons are about survival—they are not about healing and recovery. If IPP prisoners commit suicide, the Ministry of Justice blames them for not working hard enough on their personality disorder. It just about protecting the system.

How did you get involved in the campaign?

We set up the action group in 2022.

We want retrospective justice—we want all the IPP sentences abolished. But justice still hasn’t come. We protest, campaign and raise awareness.

People are shocked that people are still locked up when they have served years more than their sentence.

The Ministry of Justice promised to progress towards ending indefinite detention. But it has not done it. The Action Plan it brought in actually prolongs incarceration. It made things worse.

Now you can be kept inside for an extra five years if you are judged not to have made enough progress.

What impact has the IPP had on Abdullahi?

Abdullahi has not committed a crime since 2005. He is a very empathetic person now. The IPPs break up family life. We are all being punished and traumatised.

I visit my partner in prison. Once he had been beaten by prison guards with batons. They broke the bone in his skull. I will never forget seeing him like that.

How can you tell your children that their dad is in prison for something he did 20 years ago? My daughter was only seven when he went inside.

He has missed out on all the things we take for granted—learning to drive, having a job.

These are stolen years. Many prisoners have lost parents while they were locked up.

The campaign gives me hope that things will change. Our children will grow up to be the next generation of campaigners.

We will get change.

‘IPP is like a death sentence’

Wayne Bell was sentenced for two years for stealing a bike when he was 17. Some 18 years later, he is still in prison.

Thomas White was sentenced for two years for stealing a mobile phone. Thomas is still in prison 12 years later. He has been diagnosed with psychosis. Thomas has met his son Kayden once.

Aaron Graham was sentenced to two years and 124 days for punching a man. He is still in prison 20 years later. Aaron’s sister Cherie says, “My brother does not pose a risk—the only risk is him dying in prison not being able to cope with his sentence.”

Leroy Douglas was sentenced to two and a half years for stealing a mobile phone. He is still in prison after 20 years. Leroy says, “This IPP sentence is cripplingly cruel. My detention has become inhumane and degrading.”

Karl Maroni was sentenced to three and a half years for a violent offence. He is still in prison after 16 years. Karl says “I have been left to rot. It is like a death sentence.”

‘Voices of those affected are strongest’

At least 81 people serving IPP sentences are known to have taken their own lives. Donna Mooney’s brother, Tommy Nicol, took his own life while serving an IPP order in 2015. Donna now helps to run the United Group for Reform of IPP, known as UNGRIPP. She spoke to Judy Cox.

Tell me about your campaign

UNGRIPP began in 2020 as a website, but it quickly grew. We organise different aspects of campaigning. We focus on parliament because that is where we think change can happen.

The voices of those directly affected by IPP are central to our campaign. There are hundreds of people directly affected by IPP.

My brother took his life in prison. The voices of those affected are the strongest thing we have.

There are two aspects to what we do. We campaign for political change and we support those serving IPP sentences and their families.

People serving an IPP sentence are presented as dangerous people. But it is not true—it is about frightening people.

There was not suddenly an influx of a more dangerous people between 2005 and 2012—it is just a terrible policy.

The IPPs were abolished in 2012 but the sentences passed before that still stand. It is terrible that this law was ever implemented, and even worse that the sentences were kept in place.

The system was never set up to rehabilitate people. People serving IPP sentences in prison cannot access the courses they are told they have to complete. And the parole boards decide what “dangerous” looks like.

My brother had no control over the reports that were filed about him. He had no control over what others did.

And people serving an IPP sentence have their mental health badly affected.

They have not done anything to warrant sentences this long, sentences with no end date.

The rates of self-harm and suicide are 70 percent higher for people on IPPs as they are for those serving life sentences.

Even if you get released, you are subject to recall to prison. You don’t have to have committed a crime, just missed an appointment, or come off your medication, and you get sent straight back to prison.

If you are recalled, it takes an average of 28 months to get re‑released.

We want all those serving IPP sentences to be resentenced. The government is refusing to change things. So those serving IPP sentences are stuck in overcrowded, underfunded prisons.

What happened to your brother?

My brother stole a car and he hurt someone taking it. He was on an IPP and two years over the tariff set by the judge. He got a second knock back from the parole board. He couldn’t see a way out.

He was compliant while in prison. He worked in the kitchens. But he couldn’t get on the courses he was told he had to do.

He wrote us letters saying it was psychological torture. The levels of anxiety and stress are unbelievable. Some people serving an IPP sentences just disengage from the whole process—they can’t stand getting their hopes up and being disappointed.

The inquest in my brother’s death was horrific. They demonised him. I was so shocked and angry. I thought they didn’t do things like that in this country.

Some relatives are worried about repercussions if they speak out in public. I started campaigning because I had nothing to lose because my brother was dead.

There are large numbers of people now campaigning for change. We have a new government, but it doesn’t look like they are going to do anything different.

There is definitely a political angle to this—they want to look tough on crime to win votes. And they are worried that if one person is released and does something wrong, it will backfire on them.

But you cannot keep thousands of people locked up on that basis.

What we think

The IPP sentences must be abolished. And so should the whole criminal justice system which incarcerates people who are poor, have mental health conditions and addictions.

Prisons harm those locked up and make it harder for them to escape lives of poverty and violence. They are part of the problem—not the solution.