EXCLUSIVEYoung woman jailed for 16 years for breaking a plant pot and ripping up a betting slip under Labour government's controversial IPP sentence slams 'cruel, degrading and severe mental damage' it caused
A woman jailed for 16 years after breaking a plant pot and ripping up a blank betting slip under a now abolished law his hit out at her 'cruel, degrading and severely mentally damaging' sentence.
Ronnie Sinclair was just 22 when she was locked up for robbery following a drunken row at a friend's barbecue which was caught by a neighbour's CCTV.
Ronnie pleaded guilty to one count of robbery but because she already had a youth criminal record judges at Newcastle Crown Court handed down a six-year sentence under now-abolished imprisonment for public protection (IPP) legislation.
The IPP meant she served her full sentence plus an additional 10 years which kept her behind bars until she was 38. She remains on an indefinite licence today.
Now aged 42, Ronnie suffered mental and physical health problems while in jail and believes: 'Even the strongest people don't come out of this unscathed.'
Ronnie Sinclair was just 22 when she began serving 16 years in jail after breaking a plant pot and ripping up a blank betting slip under now abolished imprisonment for public protection (IPP) legislation
Ronnie, now 42, has hit out at her 'cruel, degrading and severely mentally damaging' sentence, adding: 'Even the strongest people don't come out of this unscathed'
Now living in north Lincolnshire, Ronnie says she has struggled to rebuild her life and faces a daily fear of going back to jail
It comes as the family of Wayne Bell, also serving an IPP for stealing a bike 17 years ago, revealed they have no idea what prison he is in and 'don't even know if he's alive'.
Like Wayne, Ronnie lost contact with family during her sentence, choosing to isolate herself from loved ones as she believed that would be better for her mental health.
She said: 'For the first five or six years it's hard and frustrating because you don't have any idea what's going on. At the beginning you have it in your head that you do your tariff and that's it.
'There's a lot of resentment when you see people coming in for sexual assaults and they're getting released, people with heinous crimes, they're getting released and I'm there over a plant pot.
'I cut off all emotional ties with family and friends. It was my personal choice to do that just to get through it.
'It had a big impact on our relationships, even now I'm out there's no relationship like there was before. Once you switch a part of yourself off which you have to do to get through these types of sentence it's hard to get that back.'
Now living in north Lincolnshire, Ronnie says she has struggled to rebuild her life and faces a daily fear of going back to jail.
When she was first released she refused to use self-service checkout machines as she feared one mistake would see her back in jail indefinitely. Her fear of authority also meant when she witnessed a crime on the street she approached a nearby traffic warden to call the police as she was too afraid to call herself.
Addressing the 2004 row that led to her sentence, she can't remember what started it but says it was so trivial she and the friend made up straight away and returned to the party.
She said: 'It happened at a friend's bungalow, we were both under the influence and we had an argument. My phone got flushed down the toilet, a plant pot got smashed and I took a betting slip out of his house, tore it up and put it down the drain.
'It was just an empty betting slip with some notes on the back about form for runners at the Grand National but it was just a piece of paper. The plant pot was just one provided by the council, he threw it at me and it didn't break then I threw it back and it smashed off a wall.
'I can't even remember what the row was about, it blew over straight away but it was all caught on next door's CCTV and they called the police.'
She admits she had issues with substance abuse before going to jail but says both her physical and mental health deteriorated during her sentence.
She said: 'My mental health suffered and I had trust issues with authority. There is just a constant mistrust. By the end of my sentence I didn't come out on association time, I just sat in my room on my own away from people because that was my level of paranoia and mistrust.
'I was diagnosed with MS (Multiple sclerosis) in 2014, there's not a lot of medical help while you're in there.'
Ronnie lost contact with family during her sentence, choosing to isolate herself from loved ones as she believed that would be better for her mental health
Addressing the 2004 row that led to her sentence, she can't remember what started it but says it was so trivial she and the friend made up straight away and returned to the party, but police were called by a neighbour who caught it on CCTV
Ronnie shared her story in the wake of the family of Wayne Bell (pictured), also serving an IPP for stealing a bike 17 years ago, revealed they have no idea what prison he is in and 'don't even know if he's alive'
Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences - introduced in 2005 - was later abolished for being 'unjust'.
Those in receipt of them were handed minimum terms but after their few years in prison were up, they had to convince the Parole Board they were safe enough to be released back into the community.
However, they weren't given access to rehabilitation courses to do so.
Figures released by the Ministry of Justice in March revealed that almost 3,000 people are still behind bars on IPP.
Wayne's sister Alana Bell, 33, told the Manchester Evening News (MEN) the family haven't heard from him in over two years and they 'don't even know if he's alive'.
Around 17 years ago, Bell punched a man and stole his bike in Manchester. He was sentenced in 2007 and was among one of the first convicts to be handed a new type of sentence.
When he was a teenager, Bell played the trumpet and wanted to become a mechanic. But he started getting into trouble at school and ended up being expelled.
At 17, Bell was convicted at Manchester Crown Court and told he would serve four years before the Parole Board would consider releasing him but successive hearings deemed he couldn't be managed safely.
So as time went on he lost hope of ever being released and started getting in fights behind bars. With each brawl, his chances of persuading the board diminished even further.
The mother of a Wayne Bell (far right) has said prison has 'totally destroyed him'. Pictured Carl (middle) and Diane Bell (right) with Wayne
Speaking to MEN before his death, Bell's father Carl said: 'I honestly thought he would be coming out. I thought he would be in there a couple of years.
'Wayne has watched murderers and rapists come and go in and out of prison. He just hit someone and took their bike. The sentence really doesn't fit the crime.'
Many inmates are already over their maximum term, some by over a decade, say campaigners The Institute of Now.
IPP is said to have cost the taxpayer £500 million already and could rise of £1billion by 2028.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'The prison system is in crisis and we recognise the significant impact this is having on our whole justice system.
'It is right that IPP sentences were abolished. The Lord Chancellor is committed to working with organisations and campaign groups to ensure the appropriate course of action is taken to support those still serving IPP sentences.'
It comes after Labour announced new measures to crackdown on the prison overcrowding crisis in the King's Speech on Wednesday.
Foreign prisoners who make up just 12 per cent of the UK's prison population could be deported in a bid to tackle the issue.
Last week The Prison Governors' Association, which represents 95 per cent of prison governors in England and Wales, warned that jails were due to run out of space within days.
At the end of March this year there were 10,422 foreign nationals in British jails, up from 10,148 the year before. This is about 12 per cent of all prisoners - each costing the taxpayer £47,000.
