An Open Letter to the Justice Secretary

Dear Mr Lewis,

A belated congratulations on your new appointment to the post of Justice Secretary, and also to your brand-new team at the Ministry of Justice. I would have written earlier but as you know there were a few things going on, change of Monarchs as well of course as Prime Ministers, Sterling crashing, that sort of stuff, and of course you had to pop up to Birmingham for that rather unusual Conference, so got a bit delayed. Anyway, here are my few thoughts to welcome you.

I always write to new arrivals, and there have been quite a few in recent years, but blimey not so many had so much on their plate as you do. You arrive as you certainly know, to a heap of major problems; overcrowded prisons with far too many locked in cells 23 hours a day, a shortage of officers and those who remain demoralised by the pay award they received, a strike of Education Staff who are so important to your aims for rehabilitation but find their pay structure exploits their genuine commitment, a disgraceful backlog of court cases now made worse by the justified Barristers’ Strike leaving people on remand inside for far too long, and much more. You will I am sure be making certain that the Ministry of Justice budget is significantly increased in future, and perhaps a ray of hope is that the PM has been Justice Secretary in the past and so will understand the task you face and may give you support in the spending round.

But this is a perfect time for you to arrive in some respects. You have the opportunity and the means to right two of the huge stains on our reputation as a fair and just nation, with reports sitting on your desk right now. These are Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and Joint Enterprise. And if you deal with these at once you will demonstrate that you will be a reforming and positive Minister and give confidence to all those who know Prison reform is the only way to effectively reduce crime by cutting reoffending, and then they will work closely with you to achieve that aim.

Can I remind you of a quote from Shakespeare? I know everybody quotes from Shakespeare ad nauseum but here goes, from Julius Caesar. “There is a tide in the affairs of men if taken at the flood leads on to fortune.” You can surf that tide. The highly respected All Party Commons Justice Select Committee has just sent to you their in-depth report into Imprisonment for Public Protection, a law introduced in 2005, scrapped in 2012 but not backdated, by which judges could add to the fixed tariff an indefinite sentence for public safety. Lord (David) Blunkett who had pushed it through at that time has said it was intended only for the most serious crimes but was misused by judges in many cases in matters for which it was not meant. There are many people still in prison who are years over their tariff time, and despair of getting out because the burden of proof that they are not “dangerous” when they go before Parole is so high and the courses that were supposedly to be created for them to change their “bad ways” non-existent in the prisons in which they are trapped. Then even when they get through Parole, they are on 10-year licences which mean that for trivia, such as a missed probation appointment, they can be taken straight back to prison to await another Parole hearing months away.

But you have the Committee Report and can see what the Committee think. You will see how this cruel punishment has impacted on those undergoing it. You will learn of those who take their own lives and who self-harm. You will know and so can act because the Committee have told you what is needed; resentencing of all still under IPP. Your officials must have planned for this outcome because all the evidence given including by representatives of the Judiciary showed this would be the only way to end the process. So rather than give the “we will respond in due course” answer, just say that you will begin that process and give a timetable for the reviews to begin. You know the problem, you have the incontrovertible evidence, and you have the solution. Just act now.

The other injustice is Joint Enterprise, and here the Supreme Court in 2016 ruled that it had been wrongly interpreted since 1985, an astonishing 31 years of wrongful convictions, yet since that decision the Criminal Appeal Act of 1968 has blocked the path to Appeal by all but two people because of the 28-day time limit for appeals to be submitted. When the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes a decision, one would expect it to be honoured but it has not. Barry Sheerman MP, as you know Chair of the All-Party Group on Miscarriages of Justice, on the same day you were given your new job, introduced a 10 Minute Bill that would amend that 1968 Act to enable people to Appeal after the 28 days in cases where there has been a change in the law. A technical change that should not be controversial at all but should initiate justice. You can do that at once too.

Joint Enterprise has been shown to have racist outcomes, a major research project “The Usual Suspects” has proved that, and again you will have a copy, or your Officials will be able to brief you. The reason this is important is that we all want people to respect the law of the land, but if the Government do not respect the law and do not resolve speedily to correct clear and demonstrated unfairness, causing so much harm and damage to lives and in so many cases leading to death, then the public will lose that respect too.

So of all the problems facing you, here are two that can be resolved at once and should be so that justice is done and seen to be done. Both of these matters are known to your officials, and rest assured neither of these will go away. On social media there is a record of the dates of those who have died whilst in custody caused by IPP as they are published on the anniversaries of such tragedies, and it is depressingly frequently shown. You must make sure there are no more by starting resentencing procedures. Plus those convicted by actions condemned by the Supreme Court six years ago must have a fair chance for an appeal to be heard by the simple means of a technical amendment. The reasons are clearly laid out before you, the evidence cannot be challenged, the answers simple. Please demonstrate the path you will take in your job by doing this. After all, to slightly amend what you once said this will be rectifying bad law in a specific and limited way, but will do a lot of good for those involved, their families, and the reputation of the United Kingdom who will show a willingness to put right wrongs from recent history.

And as a little bit of advice, best never use my quote from Shakespeare in Cabinet. It was said by Brutus to Cassius as he encouraged him to assassinate Caesar, and we do not want anyone worrying that you are all planning to defenestrate another leader, do we?

Yours hopefully

Ray Smith