TikTok rap videos of Strangeways prisoner who staged rooftop protest

A prisoner who staged a 12-hour rooftop protest at Strangeways has previously posted videos on TikTok in which he rapped about his 'unjust' sentence.

Joe Outlaw sketched the words 'FREE IPPZ' on the roof of the high security prison and repeatedly shouted out the same phrase during his one-man revolt yesterday afternoon (Wednesday). The message is believed to refer to The Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence (IPP) sentence, which was abolished in 2012.

Outlaw, who was jailed for robbery for an indeterminate length of time in 2011, has previously shared videos on both TikTok and YouTube in which he discusses and raps about the 'injustice' of IPP sentences.

In one video - posted under the username 'FREELICENSE99Z' this month - he urged people to 'look into' the 'fundamentally flawed' sentences and vowed to raise awareness of them.

"The IPPs are getting forgotten about now," he said. "It's painful, man.

"It's sad because you've got to understand you've got nearly 10,000 people who got sentenced that sentence."

Outlaw added: "That's thousands, tens of thousands of sisters, sons, brothers, mums, uncles, family members. There's lads that are sat there suffering to this day badly."

Explaining his own circumstances, Outlaw said: "I'm 36 now and I've learned a lot.

"I was 23 when I come away. I'm in for an armed robbery, by the way, when I was a young little gang b****r. That's not me anymore.

"I've got my music. I want to get out and spend time with my family before I lose them, and have a bit of a life.

"For these people, they just want to keep them shackles on. They just want to keep you trapped."

In another clip, titled '84 Seconds of Truth', Outlaw raps: "Everybody on the IPP, put your mother f****** hands up."

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