A UN torture expert has said changes to the imprisonment for public protection (IPP) scheme in England and Wales do not go far enough and repeated her call for prisoners jailed under the indefinite sentencing regime to be granted release dates.
The changes, announced by the government in November, will mean that IPP prisoners, who can be recalled at any time when released on licence, can apply to the Parole Board to have their sentence terminated three years after leaving jail, rather than the current 10 years.
Additionally, even if the Parole Board rejects their application, their sentence will automatically expire after a further two years if they are not recalled to jail in that time.
However, Alice Jill Edwards, the special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said that many would not benefit from the “modest” changes.
“These are welcome and should help to end rapidly the sentences of approximately 1,800 IPP prisoners who have already been released into the community. But the reforms do not tackle the cases of nearly 1,250 prisoners who remain detained indefinitely, languishing in jail under a sentencing scheme that the justice secretary himself describes as a ‘stain’ on the entire legal system.
“IPP sentences were abandoned more than a decade ago. There can be no justification for the continued indefinite detention of so many individuals, often for relatively minor crimes.”
She cited as examples Wayne Bell, who has served 16 years on a two-year minimum tariff for punching someone and stealing their bike, and Aaron Graham, who has served 18 years on a three-year tariff for grievous bodily harm.
Edwards said the impact of the IPP regime was reflected in at least 86 suicides by such prisoners since the sentences were introduced in 2005, adding: “Perpetual uncertainty is wholly incompatible with the rule of law and is inhuman treatment.”
She wrote to the government in August last year urging it to review all IPP sentences but has been left disappointed by its reply, sent last month. The letter states the UK government aims “to support all those continuing to serve the IPP sentence in prison by providing them with the opportunity to show they can be safely released by the Parole Board”.
But Edwards said: “Unfortunately, the government’s own statistics demonstrate that this will likely have a limited impact. In 2022 the justice secretary accepted just 38% of the Parole Board’s recommendations on IPP prisoners being moved to ‘open conditions’ – an important step towards release.”
Resentencing has been advocated by parliament’s justice select committee, the Centre for Crime and Justice and IPP campaigners.
Speaking in the House of Lords on Tuesday, former lord chancellor Ken Clarke said it was “a major disgrace to the British justice system that these thousands of people are being kept in this way”. He called on the government to “consider something drastic” to address the injustice and said it should listen to campaigners.
Edwards said even a partial resentencing process for those still serving sentences for more minor crimes would be marked progress, before considering other cases.
While the Ministry of Justice has often cited public safety when explaining its position on IPP prisoners, Edwards said this was misleading, adding: “The UK, like any society with a strong rule of law, has measures to protect the community after prisoners are released. Locking people up and ‘throwing away the keys’ is not a legal or moral solution.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We have reduced the number of IPP prisoners by three-quarters since we scrapped the sentence in 2012.
“We have also taken decisive action to curtail licence periods and continue to help those still in custody to progress towards release, including improving access to rehabilitation programmes and mental health support.”
• This article was amended on 22 January 2024 to correct an indirect quote. Aaron Graham was originally sentenced for grievous bodily harm, not for stealing a mobile phone as an earlier version said.
