IPP scandal: Teenager sentenced to 18 months in prison after fight at McDonald's, still serving an indefinite sentence 18 years later

A distraught mother has spoken of her ordeal after her teenage son was sentenced to 18 months in prison and now, 18 years later, is still stuck in prison on a cruel, indefinite sentence.

Luke Ings was given a controversial Public Protection (IPP) prison sentence for robbery and a fight at McDonald's at the age of just 17.

Due to human rights concerns, prison sentences were abolished in 2012, but not retroactively – leaving almost 3,000 people in prison without a release date.

His devastated mother Samantha, 57, said Luke, now 36, was trapped with “monsters” in the high security prison HMP Wakefield, which holds some of Britain's most serious criminals, and had spent his entire adult life there.

She fears that, given the rapidly rising rates of suicide and self-harm among IPP prisoners, he will not survive unless the Government takes urgent action.

“This is wrong, you have to clarify this,” she said The Independent“I understand if they had murdered or raped someone. My son was involved in a fight at McDonald's and a street robbery.”

“He was 17 years old and my mother had died two weeks before. He's completely freaked out. I don't know what else to do to get him out of there.

“There is no light at the end of the tunnel for him,” she said, adding that things would have been much worse if her late father had not helped him. Unfortunately, he did not live to see his grandson's release.

“I think if it weren't for my father, Luke wouldn't be in prison now – he would be dead. He would have committed suicide.”

At least 90 prisoners have taken their own lives after giving up hope of release, with a further 30 suicides reported to have taken place in the community – where IPP prisoners are subject to strict conditions that can see them sent back to prison for minor offences.

The government has now started releasing more prisoners after serving only 40 percent of their sentence in order to address prison overcrowding, a move that has been described as a “slap in the face” to IPP prisoners.

IPP sentences are not covered by the Government's early release programme SDS40, under which 5,500 prisoners are expected to be released by the end of October, despite over 700 IPP prisoners having served at least 10 years beyond their minimum sentence.

“They have to look at this seriously,” the mother added. “They are going to empty some of their prisons [if they release IPP prisoners]. The only concern is that some of them have been in there for so long. Will they be able to cope outside?”

She said her once confident and well-behaved son, who is autistic, had been left incarcerated for nearly two decades to become a nervous man who struggles to make eye contact. His younger sister Millie, now 21, was just seven months old when he was given an IPP sentence.

But Mrs Ings, from Bracknell, Berkshire, said she still keeps Luke's clothes in a drawer at home in the hope that one day he will be allowed to come home.

“My little girl was seven months old when he went to prison. It's so unfair that she missed 20 years of her brother's life,” she said.

“It's horrific how they treated her and I know it's not just him. It's like our family is incomplete. We're missing someone – every Christmas, every birthday, every Easter, every time we get together – he's missing.”

Labour peer Lord Woodley called for a free vote in the House of Lords on a new MP's bill to re-sentence all IPP prisoners.

He described the prison sentences as “torture sentences” and said it made “no sense at all” to lock up nearly 3,000 prisoners despite abolished prison sentences amid a prison overcrowding crisis.

The bill comes after The Independent has repeatedly called for a review of the sentences of all IPP prisoners.

The architect of the flawed verdict, Lord Blunkett, the chairman of the Prison Officers Association and numerous activists have already supported this decision.

In an appeal to the newly elected government earlier this summer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Dr Alice Jill Edwards called for urgent action to support those serving these “inhuman” sentences.

Former Justice Committee Chairman Sir Bob Neill also called on the Prime Minister to have the political and moral courage to “do the right thing” and re-sentence the IPP prisoners.

IPP sentences require prisoners to prove to the Parole Board that they do not pose a danger to the public before they can be released under strict licensing conditions.

Ms Ings said Luke was devastated after the Parole Board recommended his release last year and promised him a place in a residential home, but the Parole Board turned him down at the last minute.

She said: “I don't understand this. They're just looking for reasons not to give him parole. This is a joke. It's time someone gave him a chance and let him come home.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “It is right that IPP sentences have been abolished. The Lord Chancellor is committed to working with organisations and stakeholders to ensure that the appropriate measures are put in place to support those still serving IPP sentences.”

“The prison system continues to provide additional support to inmates, including through improved access to rehabilitation programs and psychological care.”