Open letter calls on Keir Starmer for urgent IPP reform to end one of worst miscarriages of justice in UK prisons

A ccoalition of 70 criminal justice experts, civil society organisations, leading activists, and campaigners has published an open letter to Keir Starmer’s new Labour Government and the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, calling on them to deliver crucial reforms to Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences, a national scandal which has claimed 121 lives since 2005.

Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences were a form of ‘indefinite’ detention introduced by New Labour in 2005 to appear tough on crime. They were abolished in 2012 due to widespread concern over the sentence’s implementation and psychological impact on inmates. Many were given IPP sentences for minor offences, including Ronnie Sinclair, who served 15 years in prison for smashing a flowerpot and ripping up her friend’s betting slips. Thomas White, another IPP prisoner, remains in prison 12 years after stealing and returning a mobile phone in 2012 .

The ‘abolition’ of IPP in 2012 was not made retrospective, leaving thousands still subject to their sentences. According to the latest prison data, 2,796 people are in prison serving IPPs, 705 of whom are ten or more years beyond their ‘minimum tariff’ – the period of time served in custody after which IPPs' release on licence in the community is subject to Parole Board approval.

The open letter, published today and hand-delivered to the Ministry of Justice, sets out demands for the Labour Government to make good on a commitment made in Opposition in May 2024 – to “work at pace to make progress on IPPs” – within its first 100 days in power.

It calls on the new Government to:

1. Bring all the IPP-related provisions in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 into force.
2. Publish the first annual report on IPP, which was due by the end of March 2024.
3. Make a ministerial statement to Parliament, setting out the new Government’s plans and timetable to address all the outstanding challenges affecting those under an IPP sentence.
4. Commit to setting up an expert committee, in line with the recommendation of the former Justice Select Committee, to advise on the practicalities of a resentencing exercise.

Signatories to the letter include Amnesty International, The National Association of Probation Officers, The Howard League for Penal Reform, Prison Reform Trust, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, UNGRIPP, Inquest, Global Rights Compliance, and other leaders in the justice and human rights sectors.

The letter emphasises its chief demand – to bring all the IPP-related provisions in the Victims & Prisoners Act 2024 into force, including reducing the automatic termination period for IPPs on licence in the community from ten years to three years. This would immediately enable 1,800 people already five years post-release to have their licences terminated. Although the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 is law, its measures won’t be implemented until the Government decides a commencement date, leaving nearly 2,000 IPPs on licence in the community in limbo.