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The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Ten more years of injustice: Figures lay bare scale of IPP scandal
It will take a decade to free 2,544 prisoners trapped on 'inhumane' indefinite jail terms, damning new figures suggest, as campaigners warn the government 'must go further and faster' to end the scandal. The number of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) prisoners being released for the first time has hit an all-time low, according to the Ministry of Justice data, with just 172 freed for the first time last year. At current rates, the overall population is decreasing by less than 10 per cent a year – despite some prisoners having served up to 22 times longer than their original sentence. This excludes a further 233 people on IPP sentences who are being held in secure hospitals after their mental health has deteriorated in prison. The figures, released on Thursday in an annual report, lay bare the toxic legacy of the open-ended jail terms as pressure mounts on the government to take up fresh proposals to help those languishing without a release date. The jail term – described as 'psychological torture' by the UN – was outlawed in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving those already jailed incarcerated indefinitely. Victims of the scandal, whose tragic cases have been highlighted by The Independent, include: Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for robbing a mobile phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, 41, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery. At least 94 prisoners have taken their own lives in custody after losing hope of ever getting out. A further 37 self-inflicted deaths have taken place in the community under strict licence conditions which leave offenders in fear of being hauled back to prison indefinitely for minor breaches. Successive governments have refused justice committee recommendations to resentence IPP prisoners, claiming it will lead to dangerous prisoners being released without supervision. However an expert panel, convened by the Howard League for Penal Reform and former top judge Lord John Thomas, last month urged the government to end the injustice by giving prisoners a release date at their next review by the Parole Board within a two-year window. Other measures being considered by ministers include reducing numbers recalled to prison and providing a package of mental health support for IPP prisoners on release. The Howard League's director of campaigns, Andrew Neilson, said the data in the annual report 'underlines how much further and faster ministers will have to go to end a scandal that leaves thousands of people still in prison without an end date in sight'. "The government must provide hope for those still serving this unjust sentence, and the best way to do this would be to accept the carefully considered proposals put forward by the working group chaired by Lord Thomas,' he added. Campaigner Shirley Debono, who co-founded IPP Committee in Action, told The Independent: 'It's a travesty. This has been devastating for families. 'It's going to take a decade to clear the backlog of IPPs. In that time people are going to die and family members are going to die.' She claims the government's IPP Action Plan, designed to help support prisoners to progress towards release by the Parole Board, is only working to keep prisoners in jail for longer as her son Shaun Lloyd languishes in prison. Mr Lloyd, who was handed a two and a half year IPP sentence in 2005 after stealing a mobile phone, has served a total of 14 years after being recalled four times. He has been held for 17 months on his latest recall, despite facing no further police action, and told he must complete a five-month course before the Parole Board will consider him for release. The latest figures show prisoners serve a further 25 months on average before they are re-released, even if they are not convicted of a further offence. A spokesperson for The United Group for Reform of IPP (UNGRIPP) said the latest report shows the government's plan 'misses the mark in the urgency that is needed to put an end to this 20 year long injustice'. 'By sticking with this approach the government are committing themselves to a slow change scenario,' they added. 'UNGRIPP do not believe that this or any action plan can fix the IPP sentence, the only true way to fix it is through parliamentary policy and the politicians know this but are choosing to ignore it.' Last week former justice secretary Alex Chalk said the jail terms are 'overbearing' and 'unfair' as he urged his successor Shabana Mahmood to look carefully at the Howard League's proposals to end the historic wrong. Prisons minister James Timpson admitted there is more work to do to help IPP prisoners. "It is absolutely right that the IPP sentence was abolished,' he added. "As this report shows, we have significantly improved support for these offenders, with greater access to rehabilitation and mental health support. 'There is more work to do as we reduce the number of IPP offenders in custody, but will only do so in a way that protects the public.'
The Independent
13-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Scandal of indefinite jail terms has left prisoners damaged by ‘state's failure', ex-justice secretary warns
The scandal of ' totalitarian' indefinite jail terms has left prisoners profoundly damaged by the 'state's failure' to rehabilitate them, a former Tory justice secretary has warned. Alex Chalk KC said Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms are 'overbearing' and 'unfair' as he urged his successor Shabana Mahmood to look carefully at fresh proposals to end the historic wrong. In a candid interview after leaving government a year ago, he described the abolished jail terms as a 'state overreach' which have left thousands languishing in prison for up to 22 times longer than their original tariff. He told The Independent and the podcast Trapped: The IPP Scandal: 'If you take the time to explain to people how the state has got things wrong and that this is a state overreach, and that ultimately it has acted in a way which is overbearing, unfair and almost totalitarian, then I think that offends against most British people's sense of justice.' More than 2,500 inmates are still trapped under the outlawed jail terms, which have been described by the UN as 'psychological torture'. They were abolished in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving those already jailed incarcerated indefinitely. Victims of the scandal, whose tragic cases have been highlighted by The Independent, include: Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for robbing a mobile phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, 41, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery. Mr Chalk, 48, a barrister who first encountered the sentence when he was prosecuting cases in the criminal courts, said he tried to address the 'toxic legacy' of the jail terms when he ushered in changes by reducing the IPP licence period from 10 years to three. Almost 1,800 people have had their licence terminated in the community following his reforms, passed under the Victims and Prisoners Act before last year's general election. He said that although many had committed serious offences, whether you consider yourself a 'bleeding heart' or 'tough on crime', the jail term 'offends against people's sense of fairness in Britain'. 'There is not a single vote in taking that 10-year minimum period for an IPP down to three years,' he said. 'A, because most people don't understand it and B, insofar as they do understand it there is no sympathy for those individuals. 'But I did it because I thought it was right. I did it because I thought it was right and I'm absolutely sure it was the right thing to do.' However, while in Rishi Sunak's government, Mr Chalk stopped short of accepting recommendations from the justice committee that all IPP prisoners should be resentenced. The decision was branded 'not good enough' by campaigners after 94 IPP prisoners have taken their own lives as they lose hope of ever being released. He warned that Ms Mahmood has a tough problem to solve as she considers fresh proposals from the Howard League for Penal Reform and former top judge Lord John Thomas to end the injustice by giving prisoners a release date at their next review by the Parole Board within a two-year window. He admitted some prisoners who are automatically freed from regular, determinate jail terms would not pass the Parole Board's release test, but this is still demanded of all IPP prisoners. In some cases, he believes their long-term incarceration is what has made them too dangerous to pass this test. He said: 'So the injustice can be framed as follows: that you have people who were considered dangerous, but for whom there was hope for rehabilitation some 10, 15, 20 years ago, and yet the experience of being in custody, of having languished under these unfair orders, has for some turned them into extremely volatile and dangerous people. 'And so the exam question is, how do you right this historic wrong without leading innocent members of the public to pay the price for the state's failure?' He continued: 'The wickedness of it is, as I say, the state is very much part of why they are too dangerous. So what do you do? Well, I think that the proposal that the Howard League and Lord Thomas have come up with is certainly worthy of careful consideration.' Although he would be 'twitchy' about agreeing to a release date for remaining IPP prisoners within a two-year window, Mr Chalk 'wouldn't rule it out' if it came with additional safeguards such as tagging and enhanced monitoring. This would ensure prisoners were 'guided, as it were, not to a cliff edge from custody to freedom but much more of a glide path towards a rehabilitated future', he said. However he backed the Howard League's calls for fewer IPP prisoners to be recalled for minor breaches of licence conditions, agreeing that the threshold is currently 'too low'. 'Our duty as the state is to throw all the resources we can at making this person better to try to get them to stand on their own two feet to lead a law-abiding life, and that is our obligation,' he added. The Howard League's proposals were put together by a panel of Britain's top justice experts led by Lord Thomas, who served as lord chief justice from 2013 to 2017. The ex-judge, who is a member of the House of Lords, believes the 'practical solutions' could be the last chance to help those on the jail term, warning that without action some IPP prisoners will languish in jail until they die. Urging the state to take responsibility for its own mistakes, he insisted 'enough is enough', noting that if these prisoners had committed their crime a day after the sentence was abolished, they would have long been freed. 'It is time to address this problem in the way we have set out, which produces justice and minimises risk as much as possible,' added the judge, who last year backed The Independent 's campaign to review IPP sentences. The government has said ministers will 'carefully consider' the Howard League's recommendations. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'It is right that IPP sentences were abolished. IPP prisoners are considered for release by the independent Parole Board every two years and those who are deemed safe will be released. 'The government is supporting IPP prisoners to achieve their release but this must be done in a way that does not put the public at risk."
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Indefinite jail terms ‘not right and not fair', Lords say in call to end IPP injustice
Peers have demanded answers over the government's refusal to resentence prisoners trapped under 'no hope' indefinite jail terms, insisting: 'It is not right and it is not fair.' In an impassioned debate in the House of Lords, peers urged prisons minister James Timpson to take decisive action to end the injustice of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms. Successive governments have refused justice committee recommendations to resentence more than 2,500 prisoners still trapped under the abolished jail term. The open-ended sentences were scrapped in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving those already jailed incarcerated indefinitely. Victims of the scandal, whose tragic cases have been highlighted by The Independent, include: Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for stealing a mobile phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, 41, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery. In a speech as his private members' bill to resentence IPP prisoners reached committee stage on Friday, Labour peer Lord Tony Woodley admitted it will not succeed without government support. Addressing IPP prisoners and their families, he told them not to give up hope, but added: 'Sadly, my bill by itself will not bring you justice. But it can help build pressure on the government to do the right thing, and it can help build public awareness of this industrial-scale miscarriage of justice. 'So please don't have false hope in my bill. Hope – but not false hope – is my aim here.' Raising a series of 'probing' amendments designed to 'expose the lack of logic' behind the government's refusal to resentence IPP prisoners, he said it is 'as big a scandal as the Post Office and the infected blood scandal'. 'Almost 100 prisoners have taken their own lives – hundreds more have been driven to insanity, with this no-hope, never-ending sentence,' he said. 'The only difference with IPP is that not enough people know about it.' He reminded the government that almost 700 IPP prisoners have served at least 10 years longer than their original minimum tariff. He added: 'How can the government deny resentencing to these people, still inside, over 10 years past their minimum sentence? 'My lords, let me remind you we are talking about people who have been locked up for over a decade longer than someone else convicted of the exact same crime, but before 2005 or after 2012. 'My lords, a lot of nonsense is spoken about 'two-tier' justice, but this is one situation where that label seems to apply. It is not right and it is not fair.' His proposals were backed by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Alice Edwards, who said the jail terms have caused 'unlawful psychological torture' to prisoners. In a statement before the debate, she said: 'It is time to end the perpetual damage caused by the IPP scheme. 'These sentences have caused unlawful psychological torture and ill-treatment to too many prisoners under the care of successive British governments. 'A resentencing court is a promising way forward, in which there could be an initial prioritisation exercise of cases, necessary exclusions and, for those whose mental state requires psychiatric or other intensive treatment, their transfer to a secure mental health facility outside the prison service until such time as they are deemed fit, with regular reviews.' However, prisons minister James Timpson said none of the amendments eased his fears over resentencing, insisting the government's priority is public protection. He said the IPP Action Plan, designed to support each prisoner's progress to release by the parole board, is 'where we will sort this out'. However, he vowed to 'pull hard on every operational lever' to address the crisis and said he was carefully considering separate proposals put forward last month by an expert panel convened by the Howard League for Penal Reform. The panel, led by former lord chief justice Lord John Thomas, called for all IPP prisoners to be given a release date within a two-year window at their next parole hearing and for fewer offenders to be recalled.
The Independent
04-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Indefinite jail terms ‘not right and not fair', Lords say in call to end IPP injustice
Peers have demanded answers over the government's refusal to resentence prisoners trapped under 'no hope' indefinite jail terms, insisting: 'It is not right and it is not fair.' In an impassioned debate in the House of Lords, peers urged prisons minister James Timpson to take decisive action to end the injustice of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms. Successive governments have refused justice committee recommendations to resentence more than 2,500 prisoners still trapped under the abolished jail term. The open-ended sentences were scrapped in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving those already jailed incarcerated indefinitely. Victims of the scandal, whose tragic cases have been highlighted by The Independent, include Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for stealing a mobile phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, 41, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery. In a speech as his private members bill to resentence IPP prisoners reached committee stage on Friday, Labour peer Lord Tony Woodley, admitted it will not succeed without government support. Addressing IPP prisoners and their families, he told them not to give up hope, but added: 'Sadly, my Bill by itself will not bring you justice. But it can help build pressure on the government to do the right thing, and it can help build public awareness of this industrial-scale miscarriage of justice. 'So please don't have false hope in my Bill. Hope – but not false hope – is my aim here.' Raising a series of 'probing' amendments designed to 'expose the lack of logic' behind the government's refusal to resentence IPP prisoners, he said it is 'as big a scandal as the Post Office and the infected blood scandal'. 'Almost 100 prisoners have taken their own lives – hundreds more have been driven to insanity, with this no-hope, never-ending sentence,' he said. 'The only difference with IPP is that not enough people know about it.' He reminded the government that almost 700 IPP prisoners have served at least ten years longer than their original minimum tariff. He added: 'How can the government deny resentencing to these people – still inside, over 10 years past their minimum sentence? 'My Lords, let me remind you we are talking about people who have been locked up for over a decade longer than someone else convicted of the exact same crime, but before 2005 or after 2012. 'My Lords, a lot of nonsense is spoken about 'two-tier' justice, but this is one situation where that label seems to apply. It is not right and it is not fair.' His proposals were backed by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Alice Edwards, who said the jail terms have caused 'unlawful psychological torture' to prisoners. In a statement before the debate, she said: 'It is time to end the perpetual damage caused by the IPP scheme. 'These sentences have caused unlawful psychological torture and ill-treatment to too many prisoners under the care of successive British governments. 'A resentencing court is a promising way forward, in which there could be an initial prioritisation exercise of cases, necessary exclusions and, for those whose mental state requires psychiatric or other intensive treatment, their transfer to a secure mental health facility outside the prison service until such time as they are deemed fit, with regular reviews.' However, prisons minister James Timpson said none of the amendments eased his fears over resentencing, insisting the government's priority is public protection. He said the IPP Action Plan, designed to support each prisoner's progress to release by the parole board, is 'where we will sort this out'. However he vowed to 'pull hard on every operational lever' to address the crisis and said he was carefully considering separate proposals put forward last month by an expert panel convened by the Howard League for Penal Reform. The panel, led by former lord chief justice Lord John Thomas, called for all IPP prisoners to be given a release date within a two-year window at their next parole hearing and for fewer offenders to be recalled.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Keir Starmer must end the injustice of indefinite sentences today
It is scarcely believable that there are still 2,614 people in prison in Britain serving indefinite sentences under legislation that was repealed 13 years ago – at a time when other prisoners are being released early because the jails are full. The government is now being given the chance to end this monstrous injustice – and to ease prison overcrowding – by adopting a plan drawn up by Lord Thomas, the former lord chief justice. Indeterminate sentences were brought in under the last Labour government as an exceptional measure for prisoners considered too dangerous to release without special safeguards. But Labour peer David Blunkett, who introduced the legislation, said that many more such sentences were handed out than he had intended, and the policy was the 'biggest regret' of his career. The sentence was abolished by the coalition government, but existing prisoners continued to be subject to the stringent rules, not knowing whether they would ever be released and, if they were, being recalled to prison for minor offences. Thus, there have been a succession of terrible cases reported by The Independent, including those of Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for stealing a mobile phone, and Abdullahi Suleman, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for stealing a laptop. Plainly, there is more to their stories than this, and the Parole Board does need to be sure that those who are released are unlikely to be a danger to the public. But it cannot be right that, had they committed their crime a day after indeterminate sentences were abolished, they would have long been freed. What makes it worse is that other prisoners, some of whom pose a greater risk to the public than they do, are being let out early to free up prison places. As we report today, Lord Thomas has led a panel of experts in drawing up proposals to give every prisoner serving an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence a release date within two years, and to recall them only as a last resort. James Timpson, the prisons minister and Labour peer, should accept this workable and detailed plan and seek to close this shameful chapter in the history of British criminal justice. Presumably, the only reason that he has not acted to end this scandal already is that Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is reluctant. Having been forced to order the early release of prisoners to avoid the police having to let criminals go because there is nowhere to put them, she does not want to hand further ammunition to ignorant critics who accuse her of being soft on crime. She has shown courage in taking the difficult measures forced on her by the irresponsibility of Conservative ministers, who allowed prisons to reach crisis point. She should show some more bravery in doing the right thing, which can even be sold, in part, as another emergency measure to free up prison places. If she will not do it, Sir Keir Starmer should instruct her to. He is the law and order prime minister, the former director of public prosecutions, who understands the criminal justice system better than any minister. He cannot allow this injustice to continue and must act on Lord Thomas's recommendations. We understand that the prime minister has taken to asking officials with increasing frequency, as he gets to grips with the frustrations of trying to deliver change: 'Why not today?' Why, we should ask him, not put an end to this scandal today?
