Mother expresses profound distress over son’s ‘endless’ prison term

The mother of an inmate, who has been incarcerated for 18 years following the imposition of a “cruel and unjust” indefinite prison term, is advocating for Members of Parliament to endorse a bill to resentence all 2,734 prisoners in similar circumstances who remain in custody. James Lawrence, 37, from Southampton, received an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence in 2006 for threatening an individual with an imitation firearm. His mother, Mandy Lawrence, stated: “My son has seen murderers come in and murderers go home again, and he’s not a murderer. It’s ridiculous.” The Ministry of Justice has dismissed the concept of resentencing, citing concerns for “public protection”. Despite IPP sentences having been abolished and Lawrence’s initial minimum term being only eight months, he remains uncertain about the timing or possibility of his release on parole. His mother remarked, “He feels despair, I know that,” while recounting the circumstances that led to his incarceration at the age of 19. Lawrence admitted guilt to two charges: assault and possession of an imitation firearm with intent to instill fear and violence. Miss Lawrence indicated that he had been experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, following an incident in Southampton a year prior where he was almost fatally stabbed. She elaborated: “It was 2005 when he got stabbed… and it affected him mentally and this is why he had this starting pistol. He wouldn’t have done anything with it.” “I picked him up. There was this fight in the street. Three people kicking one person, so James got out and he was going, ‘leave him alone’, and then they started on him.” “Then he got this imitation pistol out. I thought, ‘oh my god’. I couldn’t speak. But he didn’t deserve an IPP for that.” Lawrence has been granted parole on five separate occasions, but each time he has been recalled to prison, reasons including returning late to a hostel, absconding, and instances of alcohol or drug consumption. His mother reported that he recently conveyed feeling as though there was “no end in sight” due to stringent post-parole licensing conditions, which contributed to him “falling back into old behaviours”. He has contended with addiction, and similar to numerous other IPP inmates who have lost hope, his mental well-being is a persistent concern for his family. To date, 90 IPP prisoners have committed suicide. Earlier this year, Lawrence also attempted to take his own life at HMP Erlstoke in Wiltshire, an act that was not his first. Miss Lawrence commented: “It’s horrible – the stress of not knowing if your son’s going to die.” “What I want to happen is to resentence all IPPs, starting with the lowest tariffs, because otherwise they’ve got no justice, no voice and it would ease up prison spaces.” In a formal statement, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice affirmed: “It is right that IPP sentences were abolished and we recently terminated the lifetime licences of 1,800 rehabilitated offenders.“We are now exploring ways to improve access to mental health support and rehabilitation for those still in custody.“However, with public protection our first priority, we will not be pursuing a resentencing exercise.” Shirley Debono, representing the family advocacy group IPP Committee in Action, asserted that by ruling out resentencing, the government was “causing more harm” to inmates who are already vulnerable. She predicted: “There’ll be more suicides.” She added: “There’ll be more self-harm and the risk of more violence as they have their hopes slashed away from them.” The IPP sentence was implemented by the Labour government in 2005 and subsequently abolished in 2012 due to human rights concerns, though this abolition was not applied retrospectively. Legal professionals and political figures have condemned IPP sentences as “cruel, unjust and damaging”. The most recent initiative to rectify the “injustice” of this legislation is a Private Members’ (Resentencing) Bill, which Lord Woodley introduced in September. Its second reading is scheduled for 15 November in the House of Lords. Individuals impacted by the subjects discussed in this report can access support via the BBC Action Line. For updates, follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content of external websites. Information regarding our external linking policy is available.