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Parole Board Chair ready to address issue of remaining IPP prisoners (27 July 2016)

Date: 27/07/2016
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Parole Board Chair ready to address issue of remaining IPP prisoners

Chair of the Parole Board, Professor Nick Hardwick, has issued a statement on the need to deal with around 4,000 prisoners serving Indeterminate Sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP Prisoners), who remain in prison despite the sentence being abolished in 2012.

IPP prisoners serve a period of imprisonment set by the sentencing judge – but can only then be released from prison if the Parole Board is satisfied it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public for them to remain in custody.

This means IPP prisoners can only be released once they have proved they are no longer a risk to the public, rather than the Parole Board having to prove that they are a risk.

Concerns that IPP sentences were being used more extensively than intended led to the abolition of the sentence in 2012. However, abolition was not applied retrospectively to those already serving an IPP sentence – around 4,000 of these prisoners remain in custody.

Prof Hardwick was asked by the previous Justice Secretary Michael Gove to examine ways in which more of these prisoners could be quickly and safely released.

Prof Hardwick said he had not yet had an opportunity to discuss options with the new Justice Secretary Liz Truss, but was “looking forward to doing so”.

Prof Hardwick said:

“Any changes need to be made carefully – some IPP prisoners are clearly high risk and likely to remain so for a long time.

“Prisoners who present a very real risk to the public should not be released –
others present a very low level of risk and should be able to be released as quickly as their cases can be heard under the current arrangements.

“There is a middle group that it might be possible to release if effective arrangements are made to reduce their risk and manage them in the community.

“The Parole Board can make progress on this issue without intervention by government by reducing delays in holding hearings – and by working closely with the prison and probation services to ensure arrangements for preparing and managing the release of prisoners is improved.

“We think that in this way we could reduce the number of IPP prisoners in prison to about 1,500 by 2020.”

Prof Hardwick added that if ministers wanted to go “further and faster”, legislation or policy changes would be needed, including options such as revising the risk test so that prisoners only continue to be detained if there is evidence they remain a danger to the public – and introducing that measure just for “short tariff IPPs” ie those who received a tariff of two years or less, but remained in prison long after their tariff had expired because they were unable to prove their risk to the public had been significantly reduced.

Prof Hardwick also said that taking executive action to release IPP prisoners who had served longer than the maximum current sentence for their offence might be another option.

“All these options have advantages and disadvantages and there are variants of all of them,” he added.

“These are primarily matters for ministers and Parliament – it is important we proceed in a way that treats people fairly, but maintains the confidence of the public that their safety and the concerns of victims will be carefully considered.

“It makes no sense to keep in custody prisoners who can be successfully managed in the community,” he said.

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Duncan Lewis crime lawyers can also advise on miscarriages of justice and IPP sentences.

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