A Private Member’s Bill, introduced today to the House of Lords, is the latest attempt to address the injustice of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences.
The Bill is aimed at providing a framework for the resentencing of individuals still serving the “abolished” IPP sentences, a form of indefinite sentence introduced by the New Labour government in 2005.
The introduction of this Bill comes as UK prisons reach capacity, and the Labour government has had to activate emergency measures to avoid prison overcrowding. According to experts, a resentencing campaign could cut prison overcrowding by a third and free up the equivalent of the population of four average-sized UK prisons.
Presented by Lord Woodley today, the Bill has already garnered significant attention and support from IPP campaigners, politicians and stakeholders, including Lord Blunkett, the original architect of the IPP sentences during his tenure as Home Secretary.
The stakeholders are urging the government to adopt the Bill and undertake a resentencing campaign for the nearly 3,000 IPP prisoners still stuck in UK prisons. A resentencing campaign is widely agreed to be the only way to solve the IPP crisis once and for all and was recommended by the Justice Select Committee in 2022.
IPP was abolished in 2012 due to overuse and increasing concerns over the psychological impact on inmates. However, this change was not made retrospective, and recent Government data showed that 2,734 people are still in prison today serving IPPs, 99% of whom are over-tariff.
The Bill makes provisions for a resentencing exercise in relation to all IPP sentenced individuals; to establish a time-limited expert committee, including a member of the judiciary, to advise on the practical implementation of such an exercise; and for connected purposes.
The introduction of this bill comes as we await a response from the sitting Labour Government and Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, following an open letter published in mid-July. Calling for crucial reforms to IPP, the open letter was signed by a 70-strong coalition of criminal justice experts, civil society organisations, leading activists, and campaigners.
Speaking today, our Director Richard Garside, said:
Even if the government sorts out the short-term prison capacity, they still face further capacity pressures in the coming few years.
Resentencing all those subject to the IPP sentence will go some way to heading off the medium-term prison capacity crisis that is headed the government’s way.
Labour, not unreasonably, argues that the immediate, short-term capacity crisis is a legacy of the outgoing Conservative government. But now Labour is in government, it is time to act.
If Labour continues to reject measures like the resentencing of those serving an IPP sentence, and other creative solutions to the medium-term capacity crisis coming down the road, the resulting mess will be on it alone.
