The family of a man who stole a bicycle as a teenager and remains in prison nearly 20 years later due to an outdated law have said they do not know where he is.
Wayne Bell was jailed for robbery when he was 17 and remains behind bars at 34, under a public protection prison sentence that was abolished by the courts.
His mother and sister told him Manchester Evening News They have lost contact with him and do not even know what prison he is in now.
His father’s last wish as he fought a losing battle with cancer was to speak to Bell one last time, but this was not fulfilled as he died in April 2020.
Wayne Bell was jailed for robbery when he was 17 and remains behind bars
Bell remains behind bars at 34, having been sentenced to public protection prison terms that were overturned by the courts.
His sister Alana Bell, 33, said the family has not heard from him in more than two years and “don’t even know if he’s alive.”
About 17 years ago, Bell beat up a man and stole his bike in Manchester. He was sentenced in 2007 and was one of the first convicts to be given a new type of sentence.
The public protection prison sentence, introduced in 2005, was later abolished as “unfair”.
Those who did receive them received minimal sentences, but after a few years in prison, they had to convince the Parole Board that they were safe enough to be released back into the community.
However, they were not given access to rehabilitation courses to do so.
As a teenager, Bell played the trumpet and wanted to be a mechanic, but he started getting into trouble at school and was eventually expelled.
At 17, Bell was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court and told he would serve four years before the Parole Board considered releasing him, but successive hearings deemed he could not be handled safely.
As time went on, he lost hope of ever being released and began to get into fights behind bars. With each fight, his chances of persuading the board became even smaller.
Speaking to the MEN before his death, Bell’s father Carl said: “I honestly thought he was going to get out. I thought he’d be there for a couple of years.
His father’s last wish as he fought a losing battle with cancer was to speak to Bell one last time, but this was not fulfilled as he died in April 2020.
“Wayne has seen murderers and rapists go in and out of prison. He just ran someone over and stole their bike. The sentence doesn’t fit the crime.”
Figures released by the Ministry of Justice in March revealed that almost 3,000 people remain behind bars under the IPP.
Many inmates have already exceeded their maximum sentences, some by more than a decade, say activists at The Institute of Now.
The IPP is said to have already cost the taxpayer £500m and could rise to £1bn by 2028.
At least 88 people granted leave have already committed suicide in prison, and there are fears the number is much higher because of the difficulty in recording how many have committed suicide while free in the community.
The IPP was introduced in England and Wales in 2003 as part of the Criminal Justice Act, originally intended to protect the public from dangerous criminals whose crimes did not merit a life sentence.
When it was abolished in 2012, the change was not retroactive, meaning thousands of people are still subject to the sentence.
The Ministry of Justice told MEN: ‘The prison system is in crisis and we recognise the significant impact this is having on our entire justice system.
“It is right that pretrial sentences have been abolished. The Lord Chancellor has committed to working with organisations and campaign groups to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to support those still serving pretrial sentences.”
This comes after the Labour Party announced new measures to tackle the prison overcrowding crisis in today’s King’s Speech.
Foreign prisoners, who make up just 12 per cent of the UK’s prison population, could be deported in a bid to tackle the problem.
The plan to speed up the expulsion of foreign criminals is expected to free up around 5,000 places.
Other measures could include early deportation of offenders before they fully serve their sentences.
Foreign prisoners could be exported to their home countries through transfer deals, and lower-level offenders could be deported from Britain, The Telegraph reported.
Last week, the Prison Governors Association, which represents 95 per cent of prison governors in England and Wales, warned that prisons would run out of space within days.
At the end of March this year there were 10,422 foreigners in British jails, up from 10,148 the year before. This is about 12 per cent of all prisoners, and each arrest costs the taxpayer £47,000.