We are raising money in solidarity with Miri, a 47 year old Black woman who was sentenced to 3 years on an IPP sentence (Imprisonment for Public Protection). Although IPP sentences have long been abolished, this was not enacted retrospectively, so Miri remains in custody subject to gruelling Parole Board reviews that she may sit every two years. Due to this cruel process, as of June 2021, Miri has been held captive for a decade beyond the original sentence she was given.
Miri has been granted parole only once in 2019. She was recalled after only 3 months outside for drug use. She had turned to this as a way of coping with the mental and physical abuse she experienced at the hands of HMP.
Miri was arrested for robbery in May 2008 and found guilty that December, after a 3 day trial. For the past 13 years she has been protesting her innocence. Miri believes her legal team let her down, by not disclosing evidence in the trial where the alleged victim made 3 contradictory statements to the police. If that had been put to the alleged victim in the stand in front of the Judge and Jury, she believes she and her co-defendant would have got a "Not Guilty" verdict.
Whilst being held captive, Miri has been subjected to racist abuse from both other prisoners and prison guards, as well as being harmed by the system at large who have regularly denied the abuses she has experienced and refused to intervene. Miri also receives frequent reprisals and unfavourable treatment for standing up to officers' abuses of power both for herself and on behalf of others.
Since being in prison Miri has lost several members of her family. This includes her mother, who Miri lost in 2017, after HMP twice refused her the opportunity to visit in hospital through delaying her applications for escorted leave. Her mother had been her only source of income and since she died, Miri has been unable to purchase clothes, phone credit or other items that make life inside less unbearable.
Miri is contending with her own health problems: she also had a stroke in 2009 and a number of other health problems, most recently being told she will likely get diabetes due to the poor diet she has access to inside and the medical neglect she has experienced.
Please support Miri ideally with regular monthly contributions, but whatever you are able to give will be appreciated. You can also write to her and tell her you are thinking of her.