Story by Amy-Clare Martin
- Leroy Douglas has been granted parole after spending 20 years in prison under a discredited Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) term for stealing a mobile phone.
- The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Douglas’s prolonged detention arbitrary and unlawful under international human rights law.
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham has committed to ending the injustice of IPP jail terms through new legislation before the end of the current parliament.
- Following the landmark UN ruling, human rights lawyers have lodged a High Court challenge seeking the release of surviving IPP prisoners.
- Douglas, now 44, is expected to be released to a specialist hostel in October subject to strict licence conditions, including a curfew and drug testing.
