https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis...dmarsdn8syijsb

Leroy Douglas, 43, has spent almost half his life in prison because he stole a mobile phone.

Back in 2005 when he was addicted to drugs in Cardiff, he robbed a man’s phone and was told he must serve a minimum of two and a half years. But twenty years have passed, and Leroy is still in prison. His sister, Natalie Douglas is campaigning for his release.

She said:

"It was non-violent street robbery. Leroy walked up to the boy and asked if he could use his phone. The boy said yes, and Leroy just walked away with it. There was no violence. After two and a half years they should have looked at his case again, and he should have been let out, but he had an IPP added."

An Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP), which was introduced through the Criminal Justice Act in 2003, could be given for more than 150 crimes – many of which were non serious. It was controversial from its outset.

According to a 2007 Howard League for Penal Reform report, the IPP sentence was ‘ill-conceived’ and ‘ultimately flawed’ and was a major contributor towards prison overcrowding and the serious lack of available resources necessary to help prisoners.

More than 8,700 people in England and Wales were given an IPP sentence – which gave a minimum jail term but no maximum, before the European Convention on Human Rights forced the government to abolish it in 2012, declaring detention beyond the term of sentence unlawful.

But although this meant no new IPP sentences could be given out, those prisoners already sentenced would remain subject to the sentence. So, many who have served years more than their given tariffs are still in jail.