A man from Cardiff has spent 20 years in custody after receiving an indeterminate Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence for the theft of a mobile phone. Family members and campaigners say he has effectively served a life sentence despite an original minimum term of two-and-a-half years handed down in 2005.

Leroy Douglas, now 44, was given a minimum custodial term of two-and-a-half years in 2005 for robbery but remains in prison because he was sentenced under the IPP regime.

IPPs, a form of indeterminate detention introduced for offenders judged to pose a "significant" risk of serious harm, were abolished in 2012. Under the scheme, inmates must serve a minimum term before they can be considered for release, but release is not automatic and depends on the parole board deciding it is safe to do so.

Anthony Douglas, Leroy's father, described his son as a "normal kid" growing up who was "easily led" into bad decisions. He said the switch from what the family believed was a fixed-term sentence to an indeterminate IPP was a shock.

"He got two-and-a-half years and the next thing I know is that he's still in there all these years later," Mr Douglas said. "I expected him to do half of the two-and-a-half years and start fresh again."

Mr Douglas has not been able to visit his son since the sentence but keeps in regular contact by phone. He says Leroy has suffered significant personal losses while behind bars, including the death of his daughter at age 20 from a brain haemorrhage, and the deaths of grandparents and other relatives, which the family say have affected his mental health.

The family also say repeated transfers between prisons have forced Leroy to redo training and rehabilitation courses, delaying opportunities for parole consideration. "We are not the only ones suffering, the whole family is with him being in prison," Mr Douglas said.

Discussing behaviour in custody, his father added: "His family is outside, so inside the only role models he's got are those who are already in prison," and "He started to act out because he doesn't think it's fair that he's been kept in there that long, so that's had an impact on his behaviour."

Campaigners from Wales have been pressing for retrospective action to address the situation of people still serving IPP sentences. A group visited Downing Street to hand in a letter calling for the sentences to be abolished retrospectively and for those affected to be resentenced.

The campaigners have also filed a case against the UK government before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. In their letter they urged the UK government to "do the right thing by ending one of the greatest miscarriages of justice and restore hope and justice to thousands of IPP prisoners and their families".

Andrew Taylor, a criminal barrister at Apex Chambers who has represented about 10 clients given IPP sentences, said the policy was "draconian and unfair". He warned that, in some cases, defendants who might otherwise have received fixed-term sentences of four or five years instead face indeterminate detention under IPPs.

"But if you have an IPP it's effectively for life. Many subjected to them get recalled sometimes for the most minor sentences," he said. He added there needed to be a "large scale resentencing" of people subject to IPPs, arguing that the sentences undermine rehabilitation and contribute to violence and pressure on prison capacity.

"The first aim of prison should be rehabilitation, and IPP sentences go against that," Mr Taylor said.

Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show around 2,500 prisoners had either never been released or had been recalled under the IPP scheme as of June. The MoJ also reported the number of people released from custody but still living with an IPP fell from 3,018 in December 2023 to 1,134 in March 2025.

In the past 12 months, 602 recalled IPP prisoners were released from custody, the MoJ said, describing this as the highest annual number of releases on record.

The MoJ said: "We are determined to make progress towards safe and sustainable releases for those in prison, but not in a way that undermines public protection."

Families and legal campaigners continue to press for a large-scale review and resentencing of individuals still held under IPPs, arguing the policy has caused long-term harm to prisoners and their relatives and that alternatives should be pursued to meet both justice and public safety objectives.