The sister of Thomas White, who has been incarcerated for almost 12 years for cell phone theft, Clara White, stated that Labour was now in charge of determining the terms of imprisonment for public protection (IPP), which has been referred to as “psychological torture.”
Speaking to News, Ms. White—who has long advocated for the resentence of the remaining IPP prisoners—stated that the new Labour government has to “urgently” address the issue of over 3,000 inmates still serving prison terms that were abolished more than ten years ago.
Her action follows several human rights attorneys and activists writing to Shabana Mahmood, the newly appointed justice secretary, requesting that she move “at pace” to address the IPP problem.
The campaigners raised grave concerns in the letter, which News was able to view, regarding the “intolerable position in which successive governments have placed prison and probation staff who manage those still serving these sentences, both in custody and in the community,” as well as the ongoing scandal surrounding IPP sentences.
