That’s What It’s All About
It was on social media that I saw Maxine had passed away. I did not know her but knew of her active campaigning against Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) over many years. She was very visible in Wales where she lived, and very vocal. I learnt of her distress when her cousin died. He had left prison ill, broken and in a wheelchair after being incarcerated on that sentence, despite having entered fit and healthy. Now Maxine, tragically, is another victim of this injustice.
It is easy to get swept up in all the discussions, meetings, lobbying, and report writing, whilst campaigning against injustices in our legal system. It is far too simple to think that activity equates with outcomes, that a positive meeting could be a game changer. All too often, far from actions speaking louder than words, the words wash over everything hiding the lack of consequential changes. The satisfaction of having taken part in the activity can feel sufficient. It is not. Those who are suffering from the system know this. All of us who say we care must know this too.
Hard Work Pays Off
Nobody could have worked harder to break down injustice than those who have been fighting for years to see the abolition of cruel IPP. The successes of UNGRIPP in getting the Press to look sympathetically at the subject, as well as to provide information and updates are notable. They were instrumental in inspiring the respected Commons Justice Committee to undertake a full and very thorough investigation and then worked tirelessly to get letters from those suffering from the punishment submitted in evidence, and succeeded. It had a major impact and the evidence they gave themselves was first class. Their achievements have been astonishing. Prison Reform Groups and many others have of course played a major role too.
Newly formed IPP Committee In Action staged a protest and march starting from the gates of Downing Street at 11 a.m. on Wednesday 27th April, then moved up to a mass lobby of Parliament at 2 pm. They had also gathered signatures of support for the punishment to be scrapped with a wide variety of names added to that list and this was handed in to Number 10, where it was accepted presumably between parties. What I have always considered to be one of this country’s dirty little secrets and failures of the system is now far more widely exposed. There have been excellent debates in the House of Lords, with cross party support for major changes to IPP and even the man who introduced it into law, Lord (David) Blunkett, has been right up front in arguing for change as have Lords from all parties and from the Cross Benches too.
At some time in the next few weeks, the Justice Committee Report into IPP will be published, and Government Ministers have stated time after time that when that is received they will look carefully to try and find a path to end the inhumanity of keeping people in jail for years after their tariff ended for crimes that would normally mean a very short spell inside. A lot is riding on this document. The question is of course, once it is published, how long will it take for any recommendations to be implemented? Will the Government commit the resources to ensure that post release support is available for people who they themselves admit have been damaged and harmed by the unfairness of the system that has kept them inside?
All Governments are adept at delaying taking actions they fear will be electorally unpopular. This Government, perhaps better at that than most. Politics at present is almost farcical. With a Prime Minister hiding behind the courage and hardship of the people of Ukraine in order to save his job, and a series of unworkable policies such as shipping people to a country that we, just one year ago, reported to the UN for torture and extra judicial murders in order to keep them “safe”, fairness and efficiency are in short supply. I said it was farcical. I did not say it was funny.
Keep Up The Pressure
It feels like an eternity since the Justice Committee held their last evidence gathering session, but it is just around 4 months. Their aim was to produce their report in late Spring, but it may be delayed until early summer because that excellent, committed, and very knowledgeable group of MPs realise the importance of their work. After all, Justice Minister Lord Wolfson told the House of Lords that they would look to the findings for a steer as to what to do. Sadly, Lord Wolfson quit the Government because he could not support the Prime Minister and his actions, but I do not think that this will change the view of the MoJ on this. At least I hope it won’t. We must not let it.
There is Court action being contemplated to challenge the legality of still keeping people inside on a sentence that was scrapped 10 years ago. The Parole Board may, just may, be looking more positively at release on licence, though the Head of the Parole Board implied to the Justice Committee in December that they had already released those who were easy to resolve, the “low hanging fruit” as he said. Recalls are still too high and there is no structure in place to help support those leaving prison. Not just those physically damaged like Maxine’s cousin, but stressed and stepping out after the hell of uncertainty for their futures from this eternal nightmare into the treacherous time of licence. UNGRIPP have just published excellent advice to those on licence as to how to get that lifted. Things have been going on, and will continue to do so, but pressure is needed to get it scrapped once and for all.
That is why the demonstration on 27th April was very important indeed. At this moment it is not easy to get heard above the various noises that are going on. The Rwanda plan, the Lockdown Parties, and future of the Prime Minister. This Government knows that public demonstrations work, which is why they are trying to control them in their current failing legislative attempts. ITN covered the event over two nights, and obtained an interview with the Justice Secretary in which he demonstrated the empathy and understanding of a whelk, and a dead whelk at that. He would not, he stated pompously, endanger the public by abolishing IPP with "the stroke of a pen." With these words, he presumably things it acceptable that more people in prison for minor offences and well over their allotted tariff and no hope of release thanks to him, will continue to self harm and take their own lives. Meanwhile UNGRIPP are looking to build up an information bank of support available for those who have been released, or who will soon be released. Of course, it should be the Ministry doing this, but let us be realistic, they will not. It will be deferred to a future date, and a tortuous pathway devised that, if the pattern of returns to prison continues, means IPP will stretch on and on, and this cannot be permitted. That is why we must recognise that in order for IPP to end, we have to find a way it can be achieved as I fear that the Ministry of Justice and their political heads have no interest whatsoever in finding a resolution to the difficulties faced. We have to give them a map.
Mind The Gap
The period between the end of the Justice Committee hearings and the publication of their report has been frustrating. Momentum was building, and then, for unavoidable reasons, shuddered to a halt. There is no blame on the Parliamentarians for we all know this is a complex matter, but it may have appeared that everything has stopped. Of course, the hard work of those who care deeply about this has continued and still is. That is why the demonstration was so important. It gave all of us the opportunity to go and show our support, and to bring to the attention of Members of Government and of Members of Parliament the injustice and resulting anger. It refocussed the media on the matter, and showed how much people care.
It is not about process, pathways, timetables. It is all about people really. About Maxine and her cousin. About all the others who have lost their lives or had their lives damaged. For families split apart and suffering. Politics is not a game. It is about life and death, health and harm. That is the stark choice that must be shoved in front of Parliament so that no one can say they didn’t know when the decision on the future of IPP is finally made, and the actions taken to end it once and for all. If the Government and Parliament wish it to end, it can happen. It must happen. by the stroke of a pen if need be, but happen it must. And now.