GPSJ Autumn 2024 ONLINE - Flipbook - Page 21
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
GPSJ
Re-sentencing exercise in relation to all
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP)
By Nicola Maynard, Prison Law Partner at Reeds Solicitors
The Labour government
in 2005 introduced the IPP
sentence where prisoners were
given no maximum tari昀昀 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 a昀昀ected 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 resentencing 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.
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 昀椀nally 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”.
So why have the proposals
made previously now a draft
bill?
Nicola Maynard
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 sta昀昀,
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 e昀昀ect 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 昀椀ghting and
not to lose hope by holding the
government to account.
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
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL WINTER 2024/2025
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