Prisoners on indeterminate sentences should be re-sentenced, cross-party MPs say

Prisoners on indeterminate sentences should be re-sentenced as the terms create more harm than good, MPs say today(WEDS).

Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences were introduced to prevent serious offenders being released when still a danger to the public.

Under the system, release is based on successful rehabilitation and inmates no longer being deemed a risk to the general public.

However, the Commons Justice Select Committee has found inadequate provision of support services inside and outside of prison has led to a “recall merry-go-round”, with almost half of prisoners currently serving an IPP sentence having been released previously.

In a report published today, the committee finds the current regime for managing IPP prisoners is inadequate, leading to high levels of self-harm.

It calls for the current time period after which prisoners can be considered for the termination of their licence following release to be halved, from ten years to five.

Despite being scrapped in 2012, nearly 3,000 people remain in prison having been given an IPP sentence.

In some cases, individuals have been imprisoned a decade beyond the tariff for their original sentence which could be as low as two years or less.

Campaigners have long called for the sentences to be scrapped.

Baby P’s mum was initially handed an IPP with a minimum term of five years.

She was jailed at the Old Bailey in 2009 for causing or allowing the death of her 17-month-old son Peter at their home in Tottenham, north London, on August 3 2007.

Chair of the Justice Committee, Sir Bob Neill said: “IPP sentences were abolished a decade ago but little has been done to deal with the long-term consequences on those subject to them.

“They are currently being failed in a prison system that has left them behind, with inadequate support for the specific challenges caused by the very way they have been convicted and sentenced.

“Successive Secretaries of State have accepted that change needs to happen but little has been done.

“That is why we have called for time-limited small expert committee to advise on the practical implementation of the resentencing exercise in conjunction with the senior judiciary.

“There must also be adequate support systems put in place to ensure prisoners are prepared for their release and given the right support to reintegrate into the community.

“We do not underestimate the complexity of this undertaking, but after a decade of inertia the status quo cannot be allowed to continue.”