Campaigners welcome plan to bring IPP sentences to a close but say the move is long overdue
Campaigners have hailed Andy Burnham’s pledge to bring an end to indefinite jail terms as “a day that thousands of families have spent years fighting for”.
The prime minister has said he will “end the injustice” of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences during this parliament, meaning people will no longer be trapped indefinitely under a sentence abolished more than a decade ago.
The IPP sentence was a form of indeterminate sentence in which offenders were given a minimum jail tariff but no maximum for a range of crimes.
Introduced in 2005, IPPs were designed for the indefinite detention of serious offenders who were perceived to be a risk to the public, but were used much more widely than intended and issued to offenders who committed low-level crimes. The sentence was scrapped in 2012, but its abolition was not retrospective.
Those given an IPP sentence were, in addition, placed on licence indefinitely after release, and are only eligible to have their licence removed after 10 years.
Statistics from the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service show that as of 30 June this year, 856 people remained behind bars after being given IPP sentences. Eight out of 10 of those have been jailed for at least 10 years beyond the minimum term at which they can apply for parole.
A further 1,415 IPP prisoners had been recalled to custody after being released on licence, the data showed.
Responding to Burnham’s announcement on Sunday, Marc Conway, a former IPP prisoner who now leads a campaign group against the sentencing regime called Ungripp, said the move was a long overdue step toward justice.
Conway, who was handed an IPP sentence for armed robbery, was one of three released offenders who tackled the Fishmongers’ Hall terrorist Usman Khan in 2019 on London Bridge. He has previously spoken of his fear that tackling the terrorist may have landed him back in jail under the terms of his IPP.
“This is a day that thousands of families have spent years fighting for,” Conway said. “For too long, their loved ones have been trapped by a sentence that was acknowledged as flawed over a decade ago.
“While we welcome this critical action by the government, we do so with heavy hearts for those who did not live to see this day, and for the families torn apart by years of endless uncertainty. Legislation alone cannot undo 20 years of damage, but it is the essential first step toward healing.”
Ungripp urged the Ministry of Justice and probation services to ensure that the implementation of the decision was swift, transparent and accompanied by comprehensive community and mental health support for all those transitioning off IPP licences and out of custody.
Among those to have suffered from the impact of IPP sentences was Tommy Nicol, who took his own life while serving under the now abolished regime.
He was handed a minimum tariff of four years for robbery. After six years in prison, he was told he would not be eligible for another parole hearing for at least another two years. His mental health deteriorated and he died a few months after that decision.
