In 2006 James Ward was serving a 12-month prison sentence for arson, but 11 years later he remains behind bars.
During his time in jail he set fire to the mattress in his cell. As a result he was given an IPP (Imprisonment for Public Protection) sentence of 10 months.
But he remains in jail; there are concerns for his safety because he regularly self-harms.
His family fear he will take his own life.
IPPs were abolished in 2012 but there are more than 3,000 people in England and Wales still serving these sentences, which means they have no release date.
The chairman of the Parole Board, Nick Hardwick, says ministers ''must act now'' to address the backlog.
The Ministry of Justice says it is working closely with the Parole Board to process the cases as quickly as possible and last year achieved the highest number of releases yet.
Zoe Conway reports for BBC Radio 4's Today and the Victoria Derbyshire programme.
DocHoliday96 on August 14th, 2017 at 09:57 UTC »
So he set fire to his mattress once and now is stuck in a legal loophole for a law that doesn't even exist anymore? Hard to see the justice in that
Vovabs on August 14th, 2017 at 08:52 UTC »
In a first world country...How the fuck is this not some kind of human rights violation?
ajouis on August 14th, 2017 at 08:26 UTC »
I would be too if I had a 10 Years extra to my sentence. "you can leave in 2006" "ah sorry, I meant 2106, it's on me mate, good stay anyways jk"