It will take a decade to free 2,544 prisoners trapped on “inhumane” indefinite jail terms, damning new figures suggest, as campaigners warn the government “must go further and faster” to end the scandal.
The number of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) prisoners being released for the first time has hit an all-time low, according to the Ministry of Justice data, with just 172 freed for the first time last year.
At current rates, the overall population is decreasing by less than 10 per cent a year – despite some prisoners having served up to 22 times longer than their original sentence.
This excludes a further 233 people on IPP sentences who are being held in secure hospitals after their mental health has deteriorated in prison.
The figures, released on Thursday in an annual report, lay bare the toxic legacy of the open-ended jail terms as pressure mounts on the government to take up fresh proposals to help those languishing without a release date.
The jail term – described as “psychological torture” by the UN – was outlawed 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.
At least 94 prisoners have taken their own lives in custody after losing hope of ever getting out. A further 37 self-inflicted deaths have taken place in the community under strict licence conditions which leave offenders in fear of being hauled back to prison indefinitely for minor breaches.
Successive governments have refused justice committee recommendations to resentence IPP prisoners, claiming it will lead to dangerous prisoners being released without supervision.
However an expert panel, convened by the Howard League for Penal Reform and former top judge Lord John Thomas, last month urged the government to end the injustice by giving prisoners a release date at their next review by the Parole Board within a two-year window.
Other measures being considered by ministers include reducing numbers recalled to prison and providing a package of mental health support for IPP prisoners on release.
The Howard League’s director of campaigns, Andrew Neilson, said the data in the annual report “underlines how much further and faster ministers will have to go to end a scandal that leaves thousands of people still in prison without an end date in sight”.
“The government must provide hope for those still serving this unjust sentence, and the best way to do this would be to accept the carefully considered proposals put forward by the working group chaired by Lord Thomas,” he added.
Campaigner Shirley Debono, who co-founded IPP Committee in Action, told The Independent: “It’s a travesty. This has been devastating for families.
“It’s going to take a decade to clear the backlog of IPPs. In that time people are going to die and family members are going to die.”
She claims the government’s IPP Action Plan, designed to help support prisoners to progress towards release by the Parole Board, is only working to keep prisoners in jail for longer as her son Shaun Lloyd languishes in prison.
Mr Lloyd, who was handed a two and a half year IPP sentence in 2005 after stealing a mobile phone, has served a total of 14 years after being recalled four times.
He has been held for 17 months on his latest recall, despite facing no further police action, and told he must complete a five-month course before the Parole Board will consider him for release.
The latest figures show prisoners serve a further 25 months on average before they are re-released, even if they are not convicted of a further offence.
A spokesperson for The United Group for Reform of IPP (UNGRIPP) said the latest report shows the government’s plan “misses the mark in the urgency that is needed to put an end to this 20 year long injustice”.
“By sticking with this approach the government are committing themselves to a slow change scenario,” they added.
“UNGRIPP do not believe that this or any action plan can fix the IPP sentence, the only true way to fix it is through parliamentary policy and the politicians know this but are choosing to ignore it.”
Last week former justice secretary Alex Chalk said the jail terms are “overbearing” and “unfair” as he urged his successor Shabana Mahmood to look carefully at the Howard League’s proposals to end the historic wrong.
Prisons minister James Timpson admitted there is more work to do to help IPP prisoners.
“It is absolutely right that the IPP sentence was abolished,” he added. “As this report shows, we have significantly improved support for these offenders, with greater access to rehabilitation and mental health support.
“There is more work to do as we reduce the number of IPP offenders in custody, but will only do so in a way that protects the public.”
