Tuesday briefing: How the ‘unjust’ IPP prison sentence scandal ruined thousands of lives

Mary Myers, the mother of Martin Myers, who has been in prison on an IPP sentence since 2006. Martin's twin brother, Patrick (also in the picture she is holding), died recently. Photograph: Alecsandra Raluca Drăgoi/The Guardian

Good morning.

More than two decades ago, under Tony Blair’s Labour government, a new form of indeterminate custodial sentence was introduced. IPP – imprisonment for public protection – was a product of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act. It was intended for dangerous offenders whose crimes did not warrant a life term, but who were still seen to pose a serious risk to the public.