Campaigners have hailed Andy Burnham’s pledge to bring an end to indefinite jail terms as “a day that thousands of families have spent years fighting for”. The prime minister has said he will “end the injustice” of imprisonment for public protection (IPP*) sentences during this parliament, meaning people will no longer be trapped indefinitely under a sentence abolished more than a decade ago.
Statistics from the Ministry of Justice and HMPPS show that as of 30 June this year, 856 IPP prisoners remained behind bars, with eight out of 10 having been jailed for at least 10 years beyond the minimum term at which they could apply for parole. A further 1,415 IPP prisoners were recalled to custody after being released on licence.
Responding to Burnham’s announcement on Sunday, Marc Conway, a former IPP prisoner, said the move was a long overdue step towards justice.
“This is a day that thousands of families have spent years fighting for,” Conway said. “For too long, their loved ones have been trapped by a sentence that was acknowledged as flawed over a decade ago.
While we welcome this critical action by the government, we do so with heavy hearts for those who did not live to see this day, and for the families torn apart by years of endless uncertainty. Legislation alone cannot undo 20 years of damage, but it is the essential first step toward healing.”
Campaign group Ungripp urged the Ministry of Justice and the probation services to ensure that the implementation of the decision was swift, transparent and accompanied by comprehensive community and mental health support for all those transitioning off IPP licences and out of custody.
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* Introduced in 2005, IPPs were designed for the indefinite detention of serious offenders who were perceived to be a risk to the public, but were used much more widely than intended and issued to offenders who committed low-level crimes. The sentence was scrapped in 2012 but its abolition was not retrospective.