End IPP scandal, Britain's probation chief urges PM

The probation watchdog chief for England and Wales has urged Sir Keir Starmer to finally put an end to the scandal of indefinite jail terms, warning prisoners are “trapped in the system”.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN CRIME CORRESPONDENT

Martin Jones called for ministers to look carefully at fresh proposals to help almost 2,500 prisoners still behind bars under now-outlawed imprisonment of public protection (IPP) jail terms.

The chief inspector of probation, who previously led the Parole Board for nine years, told The Independent: “I genuinely think that IPP prisoners continue to be failed by the system as a whole.”

He said the government faces a “stark choice” of leaving such prisoners to languish - which he fears will inevitably result in many dying in prison - or taking action to put right what has long been described as a stain on the justice system.

The jail term, described as “psychological torture” by the UN, was 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 robbing 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.

Successive governments have refused to resentence IPP prisoners. At current release rates, the number trapped in prison under the open-ended punishment is decreasing by less than 10 per cent a year – despite some prisoners having served up to 22 times longer than their original sentence.

In a rare interview, Mr Jones said new measures put forward last month by the Howard League for Penal Reform and former lord chief justice John Thomas have “real merit”, provided there are sufficient safeguards for the small minority whose original offence may have warranted a life sentence.