Prisoners facing indefinite sentences will not have their cases addressed as part of the new Labour government’s planned sentencing review, prisons minister Lord Timpson has said.
The decision marks a blow for campaigners and criminal justice experts who had called for a swift end to the scandal of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences.
The sentences were abolished in 2012, but almost 3,000 prisoners, given IPPs in the seven-year period they were in use, remain trapped under the indefinite jail terms.
The last government produced an action plan to support these people to progress towards release, but many, including the original architect of the IPPs, Lord Blunkett, say this is not enough and have called for the resentencing of all prisoners serving indeterminate jail times.
The calls were heightened earlier this month as the new Labour government introduced a series of emergency measures to free up cells amid concerns on prison overcrowding.
Speaking in the House of Lords on Wednesday, Lord Timpson said he was “well aware” of the issue and that it is of “great concern” to him, but said: “IPP prisoners are not caught in the changes that we’re putting forwards.”
The minister added: “It would not be appropriate to make changes in relation to IPP prisoners, because they are a different order of public protection risk.
“I’m determined to make more progress on IPP prisoners. We will build on the work done by the previous government; we worked constructively with the previous administration on sensible changes that could be made in the safest possible way for the public.
“Those changes were on the licence period and the action plan and we will crack on with that as a government.
“Any changes that we make to the regime for that type of sentence, which has rightly been abolished, must be done while balancing the public protection risk, which we would never take lightly.”
Lord Timpson, who is the former chairman of the Prison Reform Trust and founder of the Employment Advisory Board network which links prisons with employers to improve employment opportunities for offenders upon release, said he has met many IPP prisoners.
He said: “I have spent a lot of time talking to IPP prisoners in prison and outside prison and, in my previous role, a number of IPP prisoners were colleagues, so I know the complexity of the issues involved.
“And I also know that we need to be determined to find all we can do to support IPP prisoners, their families and to make sure we still maintain safety.”
His comments came after several peers raised the issue, including Liberal Democrat Baroness Burt of Solihull and Green Party peer Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb.
Lady Burt suggested that the prison population can be reduced by “implementing the recommendations of the Justice Select Committee by conducting a re-sentencing exercise for the unfortunate indeterminate sentence prisoners still stuck in a limbo of uncertainty”.
Lady Jones said: “Clearly there is an injustice that needs to be sorted as fast as possible and it was created by the last Labour Government and so it would be very appropriate for the current Labour Government to sort it out as quickly as possible.”
Last month, campaigners issued demands for IPP reform after 121 people had taken their lives under “the cruel, inhumane and degrading” sentences – including 90 in prison and 31 in the community.
The coalition of voices, including Amnesty International, the general secretary of the Prison Officers Association and the Prison Reform Trust, joined the The Independent in calling for an urgent review of IPP sentences.
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