As a former chair of an independent monitoring board at a prison, I can confirm that cuts to prison funding have had an extremely detrimental effect on the rehabilitation of those jailed under an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence (Arguments about McCann’s sentencing ignore the realities of a probation sector in crisis, 7 December).
No IPP prisoner can make an application to the parole board until they have served their minimum tariff and completed all prescribed courses. In many cases these courses are grossly oversubscribed, and in some cases not available at the jail where the prisoner is held.
As a result, virtually all IPP prisoners are detained way beyond their tariff. This leads to anger and, in turn, poor behaviour, which often stymies their chances of release when they eventually do come before a parole board. Many are released in a worse state than when they were sentenced. The Tory government is entirely responsible for this unacceptable situation.
Mark Phillips
Ambleside, Cumbria
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