Britain’s first IPP prisoner to make a public bid to be freed from a revoked indefinite prison sentence is “lost” and fears he may never be released after a devastating denial of parole.
Nicholas Bidar was left hurt and “humiliated” after a Parole Board panel refused to recommend his release or transfer to free conditions earlier this year.
The 36-year-old man was given a controversial prison sentence for public protection (IPP), which carries a minimum tariff of eight years, for a string of robberies in 2008 and for using a gun to resist arrest when he was 20.
But 16 years later he is still being held in a maximum security Category A prison with no release date.
To raise awareness of his plight, he applied to become the first IPP prisoner to have his parole hearing held in public after new laws came into force to increase the transparency of parole decisions.
Mr Bidar said ahead of the landmark hearing in March. Independent Adding to how the reality of his indeterminate sentence affected him, he added: “Every day feels like torture. I struggle every day to get through the day.
He insisted his high-risk Category A prisoner status made him a “political prisoner” after a parole review in 2021 recommended he be moved to open conditions, but this was blocked by the secretary of state for justice, who refused to downgrade him. .
In its latest rejection, the Parole Board acknowledged his Category A status had been “impeded” by his progress in prison and called for it to be urgently reviewed. However, even though six months have passed, no such review has been carried out.
His family say he has now completely lost who he was and given up hope of ever escaping maximum security HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire.
“He has taken a huge step back,” a family spokesman said IndependentHe added that “no progress” had been made regarding its classification.
“At one point he went from thinking I would be home and now says he will never come home. This is not happening. This is his mentality; no one will help.
“He called us the other day, we had a video call in prison. “What’s the point of waking up now?” he said.
“This is very hard to hear. He committed his crime and deserves to go to prison because it was wrong.
“It’s so hard to see people walk out the door. “Some of these people have committed sexual crimes or potentially murdered someone, and he’s there for a crime he committed when he was 20.”
IPP prison sentences were introduced under New Labor in 2005, with offenders given a minimum tariff but no maximum tariff. They were scrapped in 2012 due to human rights concerns, but not for those already detained.
Of the remaining 2,734 IPP inmates without a release date, more than 700 have served more than 10 years of minimum tariff.
The government is facing mounting pressure to crack down on at least 90 prisoners after at least 90 prisoners took their own lives as part of a prison sentence described by the UN as “psychological torture”.
Mr Bidar acknowledged that his offending, including other attacks committed in prison and a period when he escaped from custody, was serious and that “I had done wrong”.
But he insisted he had completed his sentencing plan and told parole board members: “I’m not that person anymore.”
His family fears he will only be rejected in prison, with no hope of release. They also backed a private members bill tabled last month to resentment all outstanding IPP prisoners.
“If he stays here until he’s 40 or 45, things won’t get better,” they added. “He won’t learn anymore.
“It will get worse. Keeping him in now won’t do anything. “This causes mental health issues for IPP inmates like him.”
The family said conditions at the maximum security prison were poor, with Mr Bidar spending 23 hours a day in his cell with only a bucket he could use as a toilet. They added that the recent water pollution problem had caused him to vomit into the same bucket for weeks.
“What he did was a long time ago,” they said. “He was a young, stupid kid. But he made the wrong choice and I think he needs a chance.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “It is true that IPP penalties have been abolished. We are significantly shortening the license terms of some rehabilitated offenders and supporting those currently serving those sentences.
“Decisions regarding the classification of prisoners are regularly reviewed and the Prison Service carries out comprehensive risk assessments to determine the appropriate security category for each prisoner based on the risk of escape, harm to the public and the security and control of the prison.”