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A UN expert on Monday commended the new proposals addressing the “longstanding crisis of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in England and Wales,” urging judicial reconsideration of the mechanism.
Alice Jill Edwards, the special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, noted the UK House of Lords’ proposals for the current or former justices to review cases of over 2,500 individuals who remain in prison under abolished IPP terms.
“A reconsideration exercise led by experienced judges is a pragmatic compromise that could pave the way toward individualised and just outcomes for those affected,” Edwards said. “In its original form, the IPP scheme was intended to protect the public, but in practice it has left thousands of individuals detained indefinitely — often far beyond their tariff — without meaningful prospects for release.”
Edwards further emphasized that the remaining prisoners with serious mental illness should receive appropriate mental health services. Moreover, the expert said that the reconsideration process must include robust mental health pathways in line with fundamental human rights standards and the prohibition against torture and other degrading punishment.
The UK government first introduced IPP sentences in 2005 and abolished them in 2012. As the abolition applies prospectively, many prisoners remain under indeterminate detention. The law allowed courts to impose an indeterminate sentence on offenders considered dangerous, and whose offence did not warrant a life sentence.
This type of sentence differed from life imprisonment, as the law required courts to set a minimum sentencing period (tariff). The Parole Board may decide to release the offender on licence at the end of the tariff. The licence allows the probation service to recall the offender to prison if necessary.
The abolition followed the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling that indeterminate prison sentences violated Article 5(1) of the European Convention of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to liberty and security.
In 2022, the Justice Committee found that IPP sentences were “irredeemably flawed,” causing “acute harm to those subject to them, with the prospect of serving a sentence without an end date causing higher levels of self-harm as well as a lack of trust in the system that is meant to rehabilitate them.” The committee recommended the establishment of a time-limited small expert committee to advise the government on a resentencing exercise for those still in prison. This recommendation, however, has not been implemented by successive governments.
Peers in the House of Lords made the proposal under ‘Clause 19’ of the sentencing bill, which is in the final stage at the upper house. The bill draws on the recommendations of the Independent Sentencing Review in May 2025, aiming to address the ‘prison crisis.’
Monday’s statement echoes the expert’s earlier call on the government to urgently review IPP sentences. Edwards asserted that “[a]s a general rule, indeterminate sentences should be used sparingly and only for the most serious crimes and offenders. Sentencing should be assessed on an individual basis, taking into account all relevant factors.”
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Alice Jill Edwards, the special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, noted the UK House of Lords’ proposals for the current or former justices to review cases of over 2,500 individuals who remain in prison under abolished IPP terms.
“A reconsideration exercise led by experienced judges is a pragmatic compromise that could pave the way toward individualised and just outcomes for those affected,” Edwards said. “In its original form, the IPP scheme was intended to protect the public, but in practice it has left thousands of individuals detained indefinitely — often far beyond their tariff — without meaningful prospects for release.”
Edwards further emphasized that the remaining prisoners with serious mental illness should receive appropriate mental health services. Moreover, the expert said that the reconsideration process must include robust mental health pathways in line with fundamental human rights standards and the prohibition against torture and other degrading punishment.
The UK government first introduced IPP sentences in 2005 and abolished them in 2012. As the abolition applies prospectively, many prisoners remain under indeterminate detention. The law allowed courts to impose an indeterminate sentence on offenders considered dangerous, and whose offence did not warrant a life sentence.
This type of sentence differed from life imprisonment, as the law required courts to set a minimum sentencing period (tariff). The Parole Board may decide to release the offender on licence at the end of the tariff. The licence allows the probation service to recall the offender to prison if necessary.
The abolition followed the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling that indeterminate prison sentences violated Article 5(1) of the European Convention of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to liberty and security.
In 2022, the Justice Committee found that IPP sentences were “irredeemably flawed,” causing “acute harm to those subject to them, with the prospect of serving a sentence without an end date causing higher levels of self-harm as well as a lack of trust in the system that is meant to rehabilitate them.” The committee recommended the establishment of a time-limited small expert committee to advise the government on a resentencing exercise for those still in prison. This recommendation, however, has not been implemented by successive governments.
Peers in the House of Lords made the proposal under ‘Clause 19’ of the sentencing bill, which is in the final stage at the upper house. The bill draws on the recommendations of the Independent Sentencing Review in May 2025, aiming to address the ‘prison crisis.’
Monday’s statement echoes the expert’s earlier call on the government to urgently review IPP sentences. Edwards asserted that “[a]s a general rule, indeterminate sentences should be used sparingly and only for the most serious crimes and offenders. Sentencing should be assessed on an individual basis, taking into account all relevant factors.”
The post UN expert urges judicial reconsideration of protection sentences in England and Wales appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.