Martin Myers tried and failed to steal a cigarette. Why has he spent 18 years in prison for it?
Martin Myers tried and failed to steal a cigarette. Why has he spent 18 years in prison for it?
A devoted father with a zest for life, he was given an indeterminate sentence in 2006. He is still locked up – and losing hope that he will ever be released
He was given an indeterminate sentence, known as imprisonment for public protection (IPP). This meant that while he could be released after 19 months and 27 days, he could also be jailed for up to 99 years. IPP was first used as a sentence in England and Wales in 2005, having been introduced by Labour in 2003 to detain in prison people who posed a significant risk of causing harm to the public. It was a controversial sentence. Critics said that jailing people for what they could do, rather than what they had done, contradicted the basic principle of justice: that people are innocent until proven guilty.
Yeah, no shit. Jesus Fucking Christ.
I can almost understand the idea when applied to extremely dangerous individuals. There should absolutely be some kind of separate system for people who are too dangerous to be able to reintegrate into society.
A one size fits all justice system is a terrible way to run a society
In most cases, though, you can get those individuals on actual charges. People aren't usually violent completely out of the blue and a suspicion of future violence might come from prior acts of violence or securing materials for mass violence (like building explosive devices)...
The rationale for detaining someone for public safety is almost always coming from prior acts that we have laws for. We should force law enforcement to actually use those laws since they'll have a burden of proof to enact enforcement... the IPP loophole is awful because it leaves no legal recourse - there was no trial you can appeal or at least argue against.
It's definitely a fucked up sentence and he should have been released by now, but this headline is very misleading. He didn't get arrested for "stealing a cigarette", he got arrested for strong arm robbery. He was also a repeat offender who had previously been arrested for assault and theft. He for sure needed to go to jail, just not indefinitely
He had previous convictions for dangerous driving, assault, theft and burglary.
Get tae fuck, the guy's an utter cunt and a burden on society
The police have their hands tied most of the time, of course they'll throw the book at someone however they can
He’s in prison for threatening to beat someone he was trying to rob.
Sounds a bit like the UKs version of a “3 strikes” law to allow longer sentences for habitual criminals.
Imprisonment for public protection was abolition in 2012 because it was being overused there are currently over 2500 people locked up whose sentences ended over 10 years ago.
Sounds like he needs to petition for resentencing.
When the headline is inaccurate, it undermines the whole article.
considering that he had, per that article, a criminal history of "dangerous driving, assault, theft and burglary", in addition to threatening assault, and theft again (plus self harm & suicide attempts)? doesnt seem like the most stable guy - he'd be in prison for something else or in a psych ward if it wasnt for the IPP