Now 62 years old and still a Category A prisoner after over 24 years inside, Frank has received little or no recognition from the Prison Service for his educational achievements or for successfully transforming himself from a man overcome by fury and desperation into a determined but reasonable and civilised human being under circumstances in which such characteristics are not easily fostered. (Here is a sample of the certificates and awards he has gained in recent years.)

His lack of progress may be put down to sheer inefficiency. At panel hearings, for instance, it was invariably his experience that those present had no idea that he has university degrees or that he has successfully completed some of the first prisoner rehabilitation courses - and this was simply because the reports on him that were put in front of them were hopelessly inaccurate and out of date. Although this situation has improved in the most recent reviews, it is still quite common to have reports written on him by people who have never met him or spent any time with him.

Another reason is almost certainly his refusal to attend any of the current versions of such rehabilitation courses - which is invariably what the hearings ask for before being ready to consider any review of his status. However, having read his interesting views on these courses, you'll probably see his point.

It's difficult to appreciate what other reasons there could be - decisions in this arena are arrived at in mysterious and non-public ways. Frank is clearly no danger to the public, being a completely reformed character from the career criminal convicted of a murder he did not commit, and has more than served his time. However, in the current risk management system, prisoners who maintain that they are innocent are regarded as being "in denial" of their guilt and considered high risk as a result. The Prison Service considers that there is no "real" evidence that his risk to the public should he escape has been sufficiently reduced to warrant a lower security category.

In fact, having spent the first 10 years or so fighting the system in every way he could, Frank is now more a model prisoner than the problem prisoner he undoubtedly once was. But the so-called "Offending Behaviour" courses that are recommended to him are seemingly the only measure of risk reduction acceptable to the Prison Service. Frank's unfailingly good behaviour, his impressive educational achievements (he has a BA, an MA and a PhD), his good influence on other, usually younger, prisoners, the good reports written on him by those in the Prison Service and the Probation Service who actually know him (rather than those who write reports from other reports) - none of these is considered as "real" evidence of the profound change that has indeed taken place in Frank.

He is not a murderer, but he was a career criminal. These days, his thoughtful, reflective attitude to life in general and his personal experience in particular are always insightful and often impressively even-handed. Of all those involved in this story of a miscarriage of justice, no one comes out of it as well as he does.

See the newsdesk front page for details of the most recent panel hearings and security status reviews.