Man Still in Prison 20 Years After Phone Robbery Due to IPP Sentence Man Still in Prison 20 Years After Phone Robbery Due to IPP Sentence

A man named Leroy Douglas is in prison. He is from Cardiff and robbed his friend back in 2005. He got a two-and-a-half-year sentence then, but is still in jail twenty years later.

Leroy stole a phone at Cardiff Central Station. He said he wanted drug addiction help and a community order.

While inside, he got clean from drugs and finished over 30 courses. These courses helped him grow as a person. He has an IPP sentence, which stands for Imprisonment for Public Protection. They abolished IPP in 2012, seeing it as a human rights issue. The change wasn’t retroactive, though, and IPP prisoners have no set release date.

The Parole Board reviews their cases and decides if they can get out. Psychologists believe Douglas is safe to release, but the Parole Board hasn’t released him. He has served eight times his original sentence.

His sister, Natalie Douglas, started a petition, wanting his case reviewed again. She says the justice system is unfair, adding her brother’s case proves it. She feels the punishment exceeds the crime.

Of the IPP prisoners, 127 served fifteen years extra. He is among 186 people in a similar situation, serving five times longer than their initial term.

Leroy first got convicted at age 15 and started using drugs then. He stole to pay for his addiction. No one got hurt in the 2005 robbery, but he received his IPP term despite this. He was never convicted of violence and has been denied parole many times.

Natalie says he has done his time, referring to Leroy’s two and a half years for a non-violent street robbery. The IPP sentence, however, keeps him inside. The IPP sentence had no release date and was abolished in 2012. Leroy is still serving that sentence, and his story isn’t unique, sadly, she laments.

Douglas’s family wants him released and asks Shabana Mahmood, the UK justice secretary, for help, wanting her to use her power. The Ministry of Justice responded to this issue, noting IPP sentences were right to get abolished. They said public safety comes first.

The government wants to help those serving these sentences. They hope to improve mental health support and rehabilitation programs.

A government review recently looked at crime in Wales and England. Crime is down, but prisoners went up. Fewer crimes occurred in 25 years, yet the number of prisoners rose 10%. The report said ministers wanted to seem “tough.”

The report deems this pushed prisons toward collapse. Sentence severity increased the problem. Prison terms grew by 40% since the early ’90s. Sentences averaged 16 months in 1993 and now average 22.5 months long.

A man named Leroy Douglas is in prison. He is from Cardiff and robbed his friend back in 2005. He got a two-and-a-half-year sentence then, but is still in jail twenty years later.

Leroy stole a phone at Cardiff Central Station. He said he wanted drug addiction help and a community order.

While inside, he got clean from drugs and finished over 30 courses. These courses helped him grow as a person. He has an IPP sentence, which stands for Imprisonment for Public Protection. They abolished IPP in 2012, seeing it as a human rights issue. The change wasn’t retroactive, though, and IPP prisoners have no set release date.

The Parole Board reviews their cases and decides if they can get out. Psychologists believe Douglas is safe to release, but the Parole Board hasn’t released him. He has served eight times his original sentence.

His sister, Natalie Douglas, started a petition, wanting his case reviewed again. She says the justice system is unfair, adding her brother’s case proves it. She feels the punishment exceeds the crime.

Of the IPP prisoners, 127 served fifteen years extra. He is among 186 people in a similar situation, serving five times longer than their initial term.

Leroy first got convicted at age 15 and started using drugs then. He stole to pay for his addiction. No one got hurt in the 2005 robbery, but he received his IPP term despite this. He was never convicted of violence and has been denied parole many times.

Natalie says he has done his time, referring to Leroy’s two and a half years for a non-violent street robbery. The IPP sentence, however, keeps him inside. The IPP sentence had no release date and was abolished in 2012. Leroy is still serving that sentence, and his story isn’t unique, sadly, she laments.

Douglas’s family wants him released and asks Shabana Mahmood, the UK justice secretary, for help, wanting her to use her power. The Ministry of Justice responded to this issue, noting IPP sentences were right to get abolished. They said public safety comes first.

The government wants to help those serving these sentences. They hope to improve mental health support and rehabilitation programs.

A government review recently looked at crime in Wales and England. Crime is down, but prisoners went up. Fewer crimes occurred in 25 years, yet the number of prisoners rose 10%. The report said ministers wanted to seem “tough.”

The report deems this pushed prisons toward collapse. Sentence severity increased the problem. Prison terms grew by 40% since the early ’90s. Sentences averaged 16 months in 1993 and now average 22.5 months long.