My Lords, I support every single amendment in this group, particularly the “two strikes” part of the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, so ably introduced by the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti. I am sure we have all had letters from individuals who are languishing in prison under the “two strikes” rule. For the sake of brevity, I will just talk about Amendments 165 and 166 in my name.
Amendment 165 comes from a concern at the lack of fulfilment of aftercare obligations for prisoners who have been transferred to a secure hospital and
subsequently returned to prison. It amends Section 117 in Part 8 of the Mental Health Act. We are talking about approximately 400 people who will, arguably, need additional help to cope with their return to prison life and subsequent reintegration into the community. It will help clarify and highlight the existing Section 117 entitlement to aftercare for prisoners who have been transferred from secure hospital to prison and remain either in prison or out on licence in the community. These individuals can be defined as those who are entitled to Section 117 aftercare. Sometimes this does not happen and individuals either in prison or out in the community do not receive the aftercare they need or are entitled to. Clearly, this entitlement is and should be reflected in their release plan and will increase their chances of a successful transition into the community, reducing the risk of recall.
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Amendment 166 addresses and seeks to mitigate some of the damage done in prison to IPP prisoners who are vulnerable to mental ill-health. It would apply to the additional aftercare duty in respect of IPPs who have never been released and are three or more years over their tariff. Approximately a third of IPP prisoners already had mental health issues at the time of their offence. On top of this, research by the British Psychological Society and Probation Institute says that the IPP sentence itself is characterised by a state of perpetual uncertainty and anxiety, fear, hopelessness, despair and a reduced sense of the future, leading to behaviour such as self-imposed isolation, self-harm and disengagement from their sentence progression.
The sentence also creates feelings of deep unfairness, injustice and mistrust of authority, which can also negatively impact their mental health. Prisoners who have been unjustly incarcerated have pretty much the same reactions—as well they might. Poor mental health has now become a prevalent characteristic of IPP prisoners. The British Psychological Society has said that IPP sentences cause acute harm to mental health. This damage is why many of us in this House believe there should be a resentencing exercise before more damage is done.
In any event, there is a very big job to do when these individuals are finally released. We know that the fear and anxiety caused by the possibility of recall not only causes further psychological damage but dissuades many IPPs on licence from seeking help. The noble Lord, Lord Carter of Haslemere, has already raised the case of Matthew Price. He was just a few months from eligibility for discharge from licence. His case is one which many noble Lords might be familiar with, because he entitled his email, which many of us received, “perpetual psychological torture”. It is so sad that he suffered in that way for so long. The noble Lord, Lord Moylan, wrote back to Matthew, encouraging him to hold on for just a short while longer, as did I. Matthew wrote that,
“this never-ending sentence … has crushed and broken me … I’ve now been released from prison for almost 10 years, yet I’m no nearer knowing when or if this nightmare will ever end”.
As we have already heard, he committed suicide a short while after he wrote this. My fervent hope is that if he had had proper continuing support and had not
been afraid to seek help because he had had psychological support from the beginning, and if the current measures in this Bill to cut the licence period from 10 years to three had been in force, then Matthew, and many others, would still be with us today. We have damaged these people. Is it not therefore incumbent on us to do all we can to help put them back together again?