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28 Sep 2022

MPs condemn ‘acute harm’ caused to prisoners by IPP sentences

It’s a scheme described as ‘the single greatest stain on our criminal justice system’ by a former supreme court justice.

Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences, introduced under New Labour, allowed offenders to be kept in jail indefinitely if they posed a risk to the public.

The scheme was scrapped a decade ago, but around 3,000 prisoners are still serving indefinite terms.

Today, a committee of MPs has called for them to be re-sentenced, saying the system causes ‘acute harm’.

Martin Read has been meeting some of those affected – and a warning, his report contains distressing themes