It is time to release prisoners trapped by endless jail terms

The Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence, introduced in 2005 under the Labour government, was intended to protect the public from serious offenders considered too dangerous for a fixed-term release.

- NAZIR AFZAL

But two decades on, this law stands as one of the most egregious stains on Britain’s criminal justice system.

Abolished in 2012 for its inherent flaws, it nonetheless continues to trap thousands of people in a cruel legal limbo. It is long past time that every person still serving an IPP sentence be resentenced. The continued use of this now-defunct punishment is unjust and, arguably, inhumane.

At its core, the IPP sentence allowed judges to hand out indeterminate prison terms for offences that did not justify life imprisonment but were deemed serious enough to warrant extended supervision. Offenders were given a “tariff” - the minimum time they must serve before being considered for release. Many of the tariffs were shockingly low, some as short as two years. Yet thousands remain in prison long after these tariffs have expired.

Why? Because release is dependent not on the time served by these prisoners, but on proving to the Parole Board that they are no longer a danger to the public - a nebulous, subjective, and often unreachable standard.