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In Britain, a jail sentence is often a death sentence. What's going on in our prisons? | Deborah Coles and Jessica Pandian

Last year, 371 people died behind closed doors. We want justice for them – and an end to a cruel system, say Inquest’s Deborah Coles and Jessica Pandian

Left hanging

England and Wales prisoners taking fewer rehabilitation courses

Last modified on Mon 17 May 2021 07.13 EDT The number of accredited rehabilitation programmes started and completed by prisoners in England and Wales has significantly decreased, the Guardian can reveal, making the route to release more difficult for thousands of inmates. Between 2009 and 2019, the number of rehabilitative courses to tackle general offending that were started and completed fell 62%, despite the prison population increasing significantly in this time, data released under freedom of information laws reveals. The figures were uncovered by Donna Mooney, whose brother Tommy Nicol killed himself after being repeatedly refused access to courses he needed to gain his release while serving an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence.

Lawyers in the news: Aston Luff, Hodge Jones & Allen

Lawyer in the news: Aston Luff, Hodge Jones & Allen

Who? Aston Luff, solicitor, Hodge Jones & Allen, London. Why is he in the news? The firm represented the family of Tommy Nicol, an IPP [Imprisonment for Public Protection] prisoner at HMP The Mount, who died in 2015. The family began a landmark claim alleging that the operation of the IPP sentence caused Tommy’s death, and the administration of it constituted a breach of his right to life under the Human Rights Act. The Ministry of Justice has settled the claim. Thoughts on the case: ‘Despite the obvious injustices they cause, existing IPP sentences have proven difficult to challenge legally since the abolition of the regime in 2012. In Tommy’s case, he was stuck in his IPP sentence, not for lack of effort or unwillingness to fulfil the requirements for his release. After repeated attempts to access the required rehabilitative courses, he conducted a hunger strike as a last resort. However, symptomatic of the IPP bureaucratic nightmare, this resulted in disciplinary hearings