Time to consider a compassionate release programme for IPP prisoners

The call comes in response to the latest reform proposals, announced earlier this week by the Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk MP.

Under the Justice Secretary’s proposals – which will require parliamentary approval – released IPP prisoners will be eligible to have their licence conditions removed after three years, compared with the current ten years. Their licence will also be removed automatically after five years, as long as they do not breach their licence conditions and/or avoid recall to prison.

While the proposed reforms have been widely welcomed, the Justice Secretary continues to reject the central recommendation from last year’s Justice Committee report: a resentencing exercise for all those subject to an IPP sentence.

The chair of the Justice Committee, Sir Bob Neill MP, has attracted cross-party support for an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill, to allow for the proposed resentencing exercise.

While supporting Sir Bob’s initiative, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies is also calling for serious consideration to be given to a compassionate release programme for those serving the IPP sentence, many of whom remain languishing in prison years beyond the original tariff set by the judge at their trial. The call echoes a suggestion made back in 2016 by the former Justice Secretary Michael Gove, in the 2016 Longford Lecture.

Figures released in October show that, as of 30 June 2023, 1,140 IPP prisoners were five years or more over tariff; 662 were 10 years or more over tariff; and 67 were 15 years or more over tariff. 

Speaking today, Richard Garside, Director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said:

Prisoners languishing in custody for years after the period the judge set at their trial should be at the front of the queue for any compassionate release programme.

Only last month, the Justice Secretary announced a compassionate release programme for a limited number of prisoners reaching the end of their sentence, as pragmatic move to address the current prison population crisis.

The Justice Secretary has described the IPP sentence as a ‘stain’ on the justice system. It is time for him to follow through on the logic of his position.

Simple justice demands that serious consideration be given to expanding the compassionate release programme those prisoners on the discredited IPP sentence who should have been released years ago.