IPP, Let Them Free

We are coming upto Christmas and will soon be into a New Year 2023. Not many families of loved ones serving the IPP sentence will be celebrating. How can they when they know what their loved one is going through.

The Government have asked for more time to respond to the Justice Select Committees report and recomendations. They will come back with their responce in January.

The one recomendation that is the only recomendation that will make a difference to all IPPs would be for the government to resentence all IPPs.

We are hoping that the delayed responce has worked in our favour as there has been a number of meetings between Ministers including James Daly MP putting so much pressure on the Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab to resentence all IPPs. There has been debates in the Lords and more media coverage and this can only help in keeping up the pressure.

IPP prisoners are now getting their stories out there. They are desperate for this nightmare to end. They are putting their parole hearing on the line to get the message out there, they are putting their lives on the line, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

We hope that Dominc Raab has gone through the Justice Select Committee's report like a fine tooth comb and see what we all see, that this sentence has done nothing but course pain, hurt and torture. and must end.

We dont know what will happen if a resentencing exercise is not accepted by the Government. We have spoken to IPP prisoners and their feeling is they cant go on living a life of misery, uncertainty, torture and the hopelessness that they been going through for well over a decade. This is frightening.

There has been many debates after the Justice Select Committee launched the inquiry into the IPP sentence, and many people have got their loved ones story into the media through news channels, radio, newspapers, online, and utube channels. We want Dominic Raab to be part of their story by being the one Justice Minister that was brave enough to put this wrong right.

There maybe a chance that Dominic Raab could be ousted out of his job as Secretary of State for Justice in the new year. As we know he is being investigated for bullying within the MOJ and there is pressure on him to go. We have got used to being let down by having different justice ministers over the years, so many I think we’ve lost count. But if Dominic Raab do lose the job we hope they replace him with someone that has a law degree under their belt with the added recipe of compassion.

Mean while the message we give to families and their loved ones is to try be strong, get though the rest of the next few weeks and keep our fingers crossed that justice will come..

IPP COMMITTEE IN ACTION

SHIRLEY DEBONO