Indefinite sentences should be suicide risk factor, says prisons watchdog

HMP The Mount, where Tommy Nicol took his own life aged 37 while serving an indefinite sentence. IPP sentences were abolished in 2012 but there are still 2,909 IPP prisoners in England and Wales. Photograph: Andrew Aitchison/Corbis/Getty Images

Indefinite prison sentences should be considered as a potential risk factor for suicide, the prisons and probation ombudsman has said.

It follows the highest number of self-inflicted deaths by prisoners on indefinite sentences since they were introduced by the Ministry of Justice in 2005. In 2022, there were nine self-inflicted deaths of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences.