• My father John Duffus was sentenced in 2010 to 4 years and 182 days IPP sentence. He is still in prison in 2018 because of this draconian sentence which was abolished in 2012.The IPP sentence is supposed to be “punitive tariff “ intended to be proportionate to the gravity of the crime. However, currently there are over 3,000 prison inmates still in prison in 2017 of which three quarters of them their minimum term, and hundreds have served five times the minimum.I recently attended my fathers’s 4th parole hearing which in all respects went well. His conduct throughout his sentence has been good and attended all the courses he was initially put on. However, his appeal was yet again refused based on the same re-hashed probation officers report which concludes that he is a danger to the public.Whilst in the prison, he was brutally attacked and almost lost his sight in one eye and currently awaiting surgery. He is now deaf in one ear, he has had a heart attack, he has sickle cell as well as having problem with his knees. If he has been a model prisoner with all the aforementioned health issues, how could he still remain a danger to the public?The parole board was some what sympathetic in that, they admitted that the prison had made him do courses that were inappropriate due to his learning ability. This means he would not have been able to achieve the necessary results. The prison were also told and that he had been neglected by the prison NHS for his health issues My reasons for this petition is self explanatory in that this IPP sentence is draconian and barbaric. The treatment of my father is appalling and sad. He is not a violent man as portrayed to be. He should be given every opportunity to be rehabilitated as desired by the IPP sentence but, he has been set up to fail with no end in sight. My Dad is just locked up with no release date and no future hope to spend the rest of he's years with he's 6 children and 7 grandchildren. My father was married to my mother for 25 years and I remember him as a fun,loving and adventurous father this whole sentence isn't just my father serving and feeling stuck it is us children and family left behind and worried about our father's health and mental state. So I urge everyone to sign this petition so we can get it to parliament and get my Father released.

Thank you