By Nicola Maynard, Prison Law Partner at Reeds Solicitors
The Labour government in 2005 introduced the IPP sentence where prisoners were given no maximum tariff and ended up becoming trapped in a revolving door.
However, under the Conservative government in 2012 IPP sentence were abolished due to matters concerning human rights. This was a welcome relief to many prisoners however the change was not made retrospectively and many prisoners are still trapped in the system.
Now we have the Labour Government back into power and have introduced a new bill to resentence IPP prisoners. This draft bill would be welcoming news for many prisoners and campaigners. They will feel that recent changes made to the law concerning IPP sentence have not gone far enough to address the issue of the inhumane sentence that was abolished in 2012.
Recent reforms have seen an overhaul of the process in which an IPP prisoners can apply for their licence to be terminated. Previously the criteria for this was that you had to be in the Community for 10 years in order to be considered. Then recently the Victims and Prisoners bill saw changes that went further to this. This means that subject to qualifying criteria, this could drop to 2 years or 5 years.
As we can see recent changes have been made to the IPP sentence however more can be done in order to completely abolish the IPP sentence.
For prisoners this new Bill, if passed, could be a collective sigh of relief as they are felt that they are a huge Burden on an already underfunded Criminal Justice System. Many of these sentences were as low as 18 months but despite this there are a large number if IPP prisoners still in custody on recall or some of which have never been released.
The impact caused by the IPP sentence and their Mental Health has been catastrophic. The not knowing when you would ever be released has also caused many prisoners to take their own life. A example of this would be the case of Matthew Price who took his own life due to his mental health being affected by the impact of the IPP sentence.
The coroner in that case raised concerns about the mental health of prisoners serving the IPP sentences. The coroner further referred to the Independent Monitoring Boards report named ‘’The Impact of IPP sentences on prisoners wellbeing dated May 2023’’.
It should be noted that this report was written after the conservative government rejected the proposals made by the justice select committee for the re-sentencing for anyone serving the IPP sentence.
The above would be another example why changes to the IPP sentence are long overdue, the previous changes to the IPP sentence were going in the right direction however did not go far enough to completely abolish them.
So why have the proposals made previously now a draft bill?
The answer to that may be due to a new government coming into power or the impact caused by the IPP sentence to prisoners overs the years.
The proposed bill would outline a process which will of course cost time and money but not nearly as much as the burden the IPP sentence has on the criminal justice system at present.
Currently the prison system and Criminal Justice System in the UK is at a breaking point. This Bill would be welcomed by those campaigners including families and prisoners serving the IPP sentence that finally can see some hope in the process. The IPP sentence has been described by Lord Brown as “the greatest single stain on our criminal justice system”.
Will the government approve the Bill?
The Justice Secretary and Senior Judiciary have all opposed this and Labour MPs are likely to be whipped to oppose the Bill.
So, in the end it is very unlikely that the Bill will have any little chance of becoming law. Why? Likely down to the costs and resources, such as Court staff, Court time and solicitors.
Even if the bill does not become law, we have seen over the years the changes that have been implemented to the IPP sentences having a positive effect on prisoners who have been waiting for some hope.
It may take time to completely abolish the IPP sentences and it is vital that the public and campaigners keep fighting and not to lose hope by holding the government to account.
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