Prisoner demands freedom after spending half his life behind bars for stealing mobile phone 20 years ago
A man who stole a mobile phone in 2005 and is still behind bars for it is calling to be released from prison.
43-year-old Leroy Douglas was first convicted at the age of 15 for smoking cannabis, and later moved onto harder drugs such as heroin.
He picked up a number of other convictions after turning to stealing to fund his drug addiction, and in 2005 when he robbed a friend of their mobile phone behind Cardiff railway station he was sentenced to a minimum of two years and six months behind bars.
However, he was also handed an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence, Douglas claims he stole the phone so he could get arrested and receive a community order for drug treatment.
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The IPP was an indeterminate sentence which could be handed down between 2005 and 2012 in England and Wales.
This meant a judge would set a minimum amount of time a convicted criminal would be behind bars, two years and six months in Douglas' case, but that a person can serve a potentially unlimited sentence.
They were supposed to be for people who had not committed offences serious enough for a life sentence but were considered to be dangerous.
IPPs were abolished in 2012 after a total of 8,711 IPP sentences had been handed out, but there was no retroactive action taken on the prisoners already incarcerated under them.
It has been over a decade since people could be sentenced with an IPP, but years on from their abolishment there are still some prisoners who are yet to be released from them including Leroy Douglas.
The Independent reports that he has made an appeal for release from prison, saying: "This IPP sentence is cripplingly cruel. My detention has become inhumane and degrading and they ought to intervene now."
The outlet also reports that he is one of 186 prisoners who has served at least five times their sentence.
Douglas told The Independent: "I’m very remorseful and accept full responsibility for my previous offending behaviour. I know what it’s like to be a victim since I have been racially attacked and cut my face whilst in prison.
“My detention has clearly become arbitrary, no longer necessary. I’ve completed 36 courses to reduce perceived risk factors in order to help with being released."
During his time behind bars, Douglas made a successful claim of compensation against the Ministry of Justice for breaching his human rights by denying him access to courses he would need to complete for his release.
In 2020 he was handed a five-week sentence for money laundering and has been refused parole on the grounds of disruptive behaviour, though at his last parole hearing a psychologist recommended that he be freed and he said the parole board got his name wrong on their refusal documents.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: "It is right that IPP sentences were abolished.
"With public protection as the number one priority, the lord chancellor is working with organisations and campaign groups to ensure appropriate action is taken to support those still serving these sentences, such as improved access to mental health support and rehabilitation programmes."
Joe Harker