MR Michael a O'Brien

Prisoner's in Limbo Ipp Sentences MR Michael a O'Brien

In 2005 after much outcry from the public and media outlets in relation to serious crime, the government decided to get tough on Law and Order and brought in the introduction of Imprisonment for the Public Protection to tackle serious crime which included sexual and other violent offences. However, many more offenders were caught up in this new act and it was called IPP sentences for short. Many onlookers within the criminal justice system saw similarities with life sentenced prisoners who had to show they were no risk to the public before they could be released. IPP sentenced prisoners now had to follow the same criteria before they could even be considered for release. It was down to the parole board to decide if they were a risk of offending or not. In theory, the only difference between a life sentenced prisoner and one who has been given a IPP sentence is the tariff for a life sentenced prisoner is higher than the tariff given to IPP prisoners by the judge and if for instance they are both granted Parole at a later date the IPP prisoners after 10 years can apply to have the licence removed from his file where the life sentenced prisoner cannot do this and remains on parole for the rest of his natural life. Many prisoners on IPP sentences have had relatively low tariffs some as low as two years however, very few prisoners have actually been released on their actual tariff date and quite a high number of them have done double the recommended tariff sentence set by the judge. Many families I have spoken to have called IPP sentences a life sentence through the back door and in this book, we will be talking to the families of those who have been affected by these IPP sentences and what it actually means to them and how it affected them. This book will highlight cases to show how the IPP sentences work, and how unjust this sentence is. One interesting point to note is the fact that many offenders sentenced to IPP have done longer sentences than many sex offenders and paedophiles which the Act was originally designed for. Is this an injustice? This book is dedicated to the memory of the 16 Prisoners who sadly took their own lives whilst serving a IPP sentence god bless them all.