Indefinite jail terms are 'as big a scandal as Post Office'

Labour peer says No 10 must end 'no hope' IPP sentences

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN CRIME CORRESPONDENT

Peers have demanded answers over the government's refusal to resentence prisoners trapped under “no hope” indefinite jail terms, insisting: “It is not right and it is not fair.”

In an impassioned debate in the House of Lords, peers urged prisons minister James Timpson to take decisive action to end the injustice of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) jail terms.

Successive governments have refused justice committee recommendations to resentence more than 2,500 prisoners still trapped under the abolished jail term. The open-ended sentences were scrapped in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving those already jailed incarcerated indefinitely.

Victims of the scandal, whose tragic cases have been highlighted by The Independent, include: Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for stealing a mobile phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, 41, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery.

In a speech as his private member's bill to resentence IPP prisoners reached committee stage yesterday, Labour peer Lord Tony Woodley admitted it will not succeed without government support.