IPP

Reforms to IPP (Imprisonment for Public Protection).

Campaigners press Labour for IPP reform. 

Campaigners have published an open letter calling on Sir Keir Starmer’s new Labour government to make crucial reforms to Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences.

The letter, handed to the Ministry of Justice on July 11 and addressed to the new Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is signed by a coalition of 70 criminal justice experts, civil society organisations, leading activists, and family campaigners.

Indefinite IPP sentences were introduced in 2005 under the last Labour government. They were abolished in 2012 amid widespread concern over the sentence’s implementation and its psychological impact on inmates, and after a High Court ruling that the way they were operating was illegal. However, the abolition was not made retrospective, leaving thousands in prison still subject to the sentence.

More than 8,000 people were handed IPP sentences, of whom 2,796 are currently in prison. Of these, 705 are 10 years or more beyond their ‘minimum tariff’, after which release on licence is subject to Parole Board approval. The campaigners call IPP “a national scandal which has claimed 121 lives since 2005”.

The letter calls on the Government to: 
(Margaret signed the letter for FASO prisoners)

Fulfil a commitment made by Labour in Opposition in May 2024 to “work at pace to make progress on IPPs”

Immediately enact all IPP-related provisions in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, passed on the final day of the last Parliament

Publish the first annual report on IPP, due by the end of March 2024

Make a ministerial statement to Parliament, setting out the timetable to address all outstanding challenges affecting those under an IPP sentence

Commit to set up an expert committee, in line with the recommendation of the former Justice Select Committee, to advise on the practicalities of resentencing.

Signatories include Amnesty International, the National Association of Probation Officers, the Howard League for Penal Reform, the Prison Reform Trust, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, UNGRIPP, Inquest, and Global Rights Compliance.

IPP-related provisions in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 including reducing the automatic termination period for IPPs on licence in the community from 10 years to three years. This would immediately enable 1,800 people already five years post-release to have their licences terminated. Although the Act is law, its measures won’t be implemented until the Government decides a commencement date, leaving people in limbo. FASO has signed for all IPP prisoners.