UN torture tsar calls on Starmer to review sentences of IPP prisoners trapped indefinitely behind bars

The UN special rapporteur on torture has urged Sir Keir Starmer to review the cases of thousands of people trapped in prison indefinitely under Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences.

Dr Alice Jill Edwards appealed directly to the prime minister to end the injustice, criticising the scandal which has left thousands of people to “languish without hope” in prison as “a terrible indictment” of the UK’s justice system.

First introduced by Tony Blair’s government in 2005 to allow courts to hand offenders jail terms with a minimum length but no maximum time limit, IPP sentences were scrapped in 2012 over human rights concerns.

But some 2,734 people are still incarcerated under the abolished sentence as of June, down just 6 per cent on the previous year. An estimated 700 people have served at least 10 years longer than their minimum tariff.

This publication has highlighted numerous such cases, including those of Thomas White, who set himself alight after serving more than 12 years for stealing a mobile phone, and Abdullahi Suleman, who has spent nearly 20 years behind bars for a laptop robbery.

Shaun Lloyd recently expressed fears he could be hauled back to jail for the fourth time for stealing a phone almost 20 years ago, while Leighton Williams finally had his sentence quashed in May after serving more than 15 years in prison for a drunken fight at the age of 19.

Another tragic case highlighted by The Independent includes Yusuf Ali , who did not eat for 61 days as he lost hope of ever being freed. When he was handed the IPP sentence in 2008 for seriously injuring another prisoner, he was told he must serve a minimum of three years. But almost 16 years later, after five failed parole bids, he is still inside.

Dr Edwards said: “Many of the cases that The Independent has highlighted in recent months demonstrate why an urgent resentencing exercise must be undertaken for IPP prisoners without any further delay. At the least, a partial resentencing exercise that focuses on the least serious crimes should take place.

“Given the crimes many IPP prisoners were originally convicted for, it is beyond belief that more than 2,700 prisoners remain detained without a release date despite IPP sentences being abolished in 2012.

“The UK justice system is meant to be an exemplar of the rule of law – that so many individuals languish without hope is a terrible indictment of the system.”

Dr Edwards said Sir Keir’s past role as director of public prosecutions and justice secretary Shabana Mahmood’s career as a barrister make them “uniquely placed to understand and tackle this problem”, adding: “I hope that they will do this as a matter of urgency.”

With ministers bringing in desperate emergency measures to free up cells in full-to-bursting prisons, experts and rights groups have urged Sir Keir to set up a committee of experts to advise on resentencing all IPP prisoners, as first recommended by MPs on the Commons justice committee in 2022.

The previous government’s refusal to heed the cross-party committee’s calls on public safety grounds was criticised at the time as “misleading” by Dr Edwards, as official figures revealed that just 83 of the thousands of IPP prisoners released since 2012 had been convicted of a serious further offence.

In remarks issued after the government initiated emergency “one in, one out” prison measures , codenamed Operation Early Dawn, Dr Edwards said she found it “extremely disappointing” that recent steps to ease overcrowding did not include IPP prisoners.

IPP sentences can cause severe distress, fear, depression and anxiety, including for inmates’ families, and may result in physical and psychological damage, including incidents of self-harm, suicide attempts and suicides, Dr Edwards said.

Pointing to the new Victims and Prisoners Act as providing measures which could help to start bringing IPP sentences to an end, Dr Edwards said: “I encourage the swift implementation of these measures and remain ready to support the authorities in any effort to finally end these sentences, while ensuring rehabilitation and access to adequate reparations for affected prisoners.”

But despite agreeing that the new act’s measures “should be implemented quickly in order to further reduce the risk of recalls to prison, which remain high”, former Tory justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland told The Independent : “The full re-sentencing of offenders, however, is not the right option.

“The vast majority of IPP prisoners were jailed for serious violent or sexual offences and a better option would be for more resources to be deployed on rehabilitation programmes that will lead to successful parole applications.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said Ms Mahmood “is committed to working with organisations and campaign groups to ensure the appropriate course of action is taken to support those still serving rightfully abolished IPP sentences”.

“We will carefully consider the points raised and respond in full in due course,” they added.