Ending Indefinite Imprisonment
How long do you think someone should spend in prison for stealing a mobile phone?
One or two years? Maybe six months? Perhaps prison isn’t even needed for a first time offence.
Thomas White has now spent more than ten years in prison for stealing a mobile phone. A number that even some of the most ardent ‘tough on crime’ types would likely balk at. The maximum sentence in cases of theft is seven years.
The worst part is that not only is White still in prison but nobody knows if and when he will be released. That is because he was given an ‘imprisonment for public protection’ sentence in 2012 with a minimum tariff of two years.
Those sentences are a form of indefinite imprisonment and mean that while the amount of time spent behind bars could be the minimum tariff, they could also turn into a life sentence. That uncertainty often creates a feeling of hopelessness amongst prisoners sentenced in this way and this is evidenced through rates of self-harm which has been estimated at more than 50%.
In White’s case his mental health has severely deteriorated during his time inside. His family say that before he was imprisoned he never experienced hallucinations or voices in his head but now he suffers from severe psychosis. At times he has attempted to communicate in Roman numerals and has believed that he is Jesus Christ. It is clear to them that he needs urgent mental healthcare but that is not being provided by the prison service.
Imprisonment for public protection was actually abolished only a few months after White was sentenced but it did not have retrospective effect. As such there are still nearly 3,000 people in the same position as White.
The former Supreme Court Justice, Lord Brown, once described imprisonment for public protection as “the greatest single stain on our criminal justice system”. Now, speaking to The Guardian, a UN torture expert has decried the Thomas White case as “emblematic of the psychological harm” that indefinite sentences can cause.
When it comes to prison sentences, the law requires a higher standard because it involves the physical deprivation of a person’s liberty. This is an important aspect of decisions in the courts but appears to be lost in the area of public policy where it is easier to just forget about people like Thomas White rather than offer them help and support.
This doesn’t mean that all the prisoners sentenced under this scheme should now simply be released. That would be impractical but time should be taken to properly review each of these cases, work out when they might be released, and address any pressing needs such as mental healthcare.
We realised that indefinite imprisonment was barbaric a decade ago but successive governments have failed to understand the consequences of that conclusion.
This week on the podcast we examine the law surrounding the compulsory purchase of land by the government. We ask how much money a landowner should be entitled to and how factors like planning permission can affect that figure.
Episode link: https://uklawweekly.com/2023-uksc-30/
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Marcus