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BBC Radio 5 Live

5 live Investigates

5 Live Investigates

Factual: Consumer

Adrian Goldberg presents cutting edge investigative journalism

Adrian Goldberg presents cutting edge investigative journalism, as well as taking on listeners' campaigns and consumer issues

5 Live Investigates: Prison Sentences & Mental Health

22/11/2015

Prison Sentences & Mental Health

BBC Radio 5 Live - 5 Live Investigates, Prison Sentences & Mental Health

The prisoners on indeterminate jail terms who don't know when they will be released.

The Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence was described as a 'stain on British justice', so why are thousands of prisoners still locked up under this now abandoned policy?

Indeterminate sentences were abolished three years ago but thousands of prisoners remain locked up, unsure when - or if - they will ever be released. Although designed to protect the public from serious violent or sexual offenders, 5 Live Investigates finds they were also applied to some much lower risk prisoners, who have served up to five times their original tariff. Some wonder whether they will ever be released.

And the geographical gaps which mean some new mothers with psychiatric problems are having to travel hundreds of miles to access the specialist healthcare they need. The Government has promised a cash injection of £15 million a year over the next five years - but is it enough?

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