Lessons from a two-strike lifer

Prisons have never known what to do with people serving endless sentences such as IPP or two-strike life

I was invited to speak at a debate on indeterminate sentences before an audience of some great legal minds and advocates of justice. The invitation came from my former KC Jim Sturman, who acted for me in several cases before the Crown in the days when I was a criminal. In fact, Jim represented me at the Old Bailey in 1998, when I was given eight life sentences for armed robbery – truly an indeterminate sentence. I was among the first to receive a two-strike life sentence, and I was given a tariff of 12 years (later cut to eight years on appeal). I served 12 years.

Murder carries a mandatory life sentence in the UK, but there have been other types of indeterminate sentences, such as IPP (Imprison-ment for Public Protection), handed out between 2005 and 2012, and, before that, the two-strike life sentence I received. The idea behind this debate was to discuss these other indeterminate sentences and their effect on the individual and society as a whole. Money raised from the event was donated to Inside Time.  

On the night of 23 October, there were more than 200 legal practitioners in the audience at the Law Society on London’s Chancery Lane, and they all seemed to agree that these other indeterminate sentences had never been a good idea – just like David Blunkett, who instigated the IPP sentence during his time as home secretary but now regrets implementing this ill-thought-out and damaging sentence. There are still 2,000 prisoners stuck in our prison system on IPP, half of whom have never been released despite being many years over their tariff.

The event was moderated by Jim, and I was on stage with Sir Bob Neill, discussing things like the high rates of suicide and self-harm among those serving endless sentences, and the fact that British law does not allow the courts to act retrospectively and change these sentences. Sir Bob reflected on the legal and policy frameworks that underpin indeterminate sentencing and its broader implications. Having chaired the Justice Select Committee during his 20-year career as an MP, Sir Bob is now back in practice as a barrister and is clear about his opposition to the continuation of these other indeterminate sentences.

This policy of jailing people with no fixed release date is Kafkaesque, a living nightmare for the people who are sentenced and also their families, who are left in limbo while the wheels of justice grind slowly along. The fact is that many legal representatives and politicians know that IPP and two-strike life sentences are fundamentally wrong, yet little seems to be happening to change this abhorrent situation.

Amongst the audience were several Crown Court judges and some of the top KCs in the country. They were very interested in what happens to these prisoners and whether there is any sort of structure to their sentences. I told them that in my own case, the prison system did not have a clue how to deal with two-strikers. In fact, a lot of the lifer prisons were refusing to take two-strikers – the reason being that they were, by definition of their ‘second-strike’, experienced criminals. Governors worried that we would cause trouble in their prisons. The majority of life-sentenced prisoners do not have criminal or prison backgrounds, as most murders are committed by relatives or friends of the victim and are one-off crimes, so those serving mandatory life sentences for murder are usually easy for the prison system to manage.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, HMP Belmarsh had to dedicate a spur on one of the houseblocks to hold this new breed of two-strikers, as there were no dedicated lifer centres to take them. We were, in effect, being warehoused in local prisons with no real plan for what to do with us. The prison system was simply unprepared for this influx. It was exactly the same with IPP following its introduction in 2005; an absolute shambles.

IPP prisoners were sold the premise that they could earn their release through ‘rehabilitation’ courses and psychological programmes. This was unrealistic, and politicians must have known that as they were cutting prison budgets in the name of austerity.  

There was a discussion about the effect that IPP and two-strike life sentences have had on the present state of criminality. My theory is that the reason that today’s young criminals are so reckless and violent is because these sentences changed the landscape so much. Before two-strike life and IPP, you basically had to kill someone to receive a life sentence, but criminals now know they can get life for stealing a phone or punching someone, so it’s the old story of ‘I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb’, leading to more violent and focused criminals. 

In the end the only message I can offer to those serving these indeterminate sentences is that you are not forgotten and there are some top legal minds working on a solution.