This evening, Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has U-turned on its support for crucial amendments to the Victims & Prisoners Bill focused on improving conditions for people stuck in prison on Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences (IPPs).

Campaigners are expressing immediate and serious concerns about a heightened risk of suicides and self-harm among IPP prisoners because of this U-turn, many of whom were convicted for minor offences, such as stealing a mobile phone.

IPPs were an ‘indefinite’ sentence introduced by New Labour in 2005, with prisoners given a ‘minimum tariff.’ After this point, their release would be subject to them proving to the Parole Board that they were safe to leave prison on licence in the community.

In 2012, the sentence was abolished due to overuse and increasing concerns over the psychological impact on inmates. However, this change was not made retrospective, and thousands are today left in prison with low prospects of release. Recent Government data showed that 2,796 people are still in prison today serving IPPs [1], 99% of whom are over-tariff and 705 of whom are 10 or more years over-tariff.

In a previous statement by Shadow Home Affairs Spokesperson, Lord Ponsonby, Keir Starmer’s Labour Party committed its support for a key amendment, the ‘Simon Brown Memorial Amendment.’ The amendment is named after the late former Supreme Court Justice, who labelled IPP the “greatest single stain on the British Justice system.” [2]

The historic amendment proposed to reverse the Parole Board release test – so that the burden of proof determining whether a prisoner should be released would fall on the Parole Board, not the prisoner – and could have led to much fairer release decisions for thousands of IPPs who otherwise would languish in prison for years to come.

However, at the debate this evening, the Labour Party reneged on its commitment of support for this crucial amendment, which would have then passed through to the House of Commons. It is the latest in a series of U-turns by the Labour Party, number 28 by some counts [3].

Lord Moylan, who tabled the Simon Brown Memorial Amendment, said: “I remain committed to trying to correct the injustice of IPP. The Simon Brown Memorial Amendment was a crucial opportunity to help nudge the dial in the right direction for IPP prisoners.”

Lord Blunkett, former Home Secretary, and architect behind the contentious Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences added: “IPP has at last reached the public’s ear. The injustice of those finding themselves still subject to the IPP/DPP sentence 12 years on from its abolition, is now well known and appreciated by everyone who understands the double-bind – the longer the agony continues, the more difficult rehabilitation becomes.”
The amendments rejected today would have offered hope to the thousands of IPPs stuck in prison today, many of whom are minor offenders.

One example is Thomas White, who stole a mobile phone in 2012 and given a minimum two-year sentence, yet has still not been released. Only last month, Thomas was allowed to see his son, Kayden (now 14), for the first time since his incarceration, as Lord Blunkett backed a mission to help reunite the father and son. Another is Aaron Graham, given a two-and-a-half-year sentence for punching someone while protecting a friend in a fight in 2005. He is one of the UK’s longest serving IPP prisoners, now approaching a continuous 20-year stretch in prison for his crime.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Alice Edwards, has labelled IPPs “psychological torture,” [4] as they cause many to despair that they will never be released, developing mental health disorders and resorting to self-harm and suicide. Recent government data showed that there were 1,886 instances of self-harm among IPPs last year [5], and that 86 IPPs have committed suicide in prison since 2005 [6], making them 10 times more likely to do so than the average UK prisoner.

Despite facing a mental health IPP crisis, in addition to a UK-wide prison capacity crisis, Rishi Sunak’s Government refuses to commit to substantive action to resolve the IPP scandal. Pressure is also building from inside the British justice system, including in recent weeks from the Head of the Prison Governor’s Association, Tom Wheatley, who called for an urgent review of “the blot on our legal system” [7], and Senior Coroner, Tom Osborne, who warned that the “inhumane and indefensible” sentences will claim more prisoners’ lives if unaddressed