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Award winning writer, James Fritz, takes us behind prison walls and into the complex issues that exist in the UK prison service. Two prisoners are on ‘Imprisonment for Public Protection’ sentences. The first is a young man who has committed his first offence. The second a returning prisoner who is now in his late 70s and struggling to cope with life in prison. Both lives are caught up in a Kafkaesque nightmare from which there seems to be no escape.

For Martin time is spinning out of control. Time is just falling through his fingers and being lost day after day, year after year. Will life always be behind a prison wall.

Martin ….. Connor Finch
John ….. Kenneth Cranham
Prison Officer Rose ….. Robert Glenister
Kate ….. Kacey Ainsworth
Sammy ….. Ty Tennant

Directed by Tracey Neale

In 2002 the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Secretary David Blunkett introduced a new type of sentence, intended to protect the public from those who had committed serious crimes.

Imprisonment for Public Protection, or IPP, gave judges the power to grant open-ended, indeterminate sentences to those regarded as too dangerous to be released when the term of their original sentence had expired.

Originally designed to be used only a handful of times, in the period between 2005 and 2012, 8,711 IPP sentences were handed out, often to relatively minor repeat offences.

As of September, there are still 2734 prisoners serving IPP sentences in the UK. All have long-since served their minimum tariff. Many still do not know when they will be released. In 2020 the former Supreme Court Justice Lord Brown described IPP sentences as ‘the greatest single stain on our criminal justice system.’ David Blunkett, the man who introduced them, has described the IPP sentence as the ‘biggest regret’ of his long career.

UK prisons are also facing the serious issue of an ever-growing elderly population. There is not adequate provision for this problem. Long serving and experienced officers are leaving and there are increasing numbers of much younger officers who have just entered the profession and lack essential prison life experience. In addition, there is hardly any care provision offered by councils because they are struggling to balance the limited finances they have at their disposal. They are hardly able to care for those outside let alone those behind bars.

Writer, James Fritz is a multi-award-winning writer from South London, whose dramas for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4 include Comment is Free, Death of A Cosmonaut, Eight Point Nine, Dear Harry Kane and The Test Batter Can’t Breathe. James has won Richard Imison, Peter Tinniswood, ARIA and Prix Europa Awards for his audio work. His theatre awards include the Bruntwood Prize, The Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright and he has also been nominated for an Olivier Award. His most recent theatre credit is the The Flea which is now performing its second run at The Yard Theatre.

Producer and Director, Tracey Neale
Sound Design, Keith Graham
Production Co-Ordinator, Ben Hollands

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