Minister of State for Justice Lord Timpson has formally advised Napo that the Government are set to make changes to the controversial Indeterminate Sentence Scheme (IPP).
We cautiously welcome the new IPP reforms which appear to vindicate Napo’s long running campaign on this issue.
Members will be aware that Napo has long been campaigning alongside other stakeholders and campaigners, to push the government on reforms to IPP sentences.
The IPP sentence, long since abolished has left many prisoners languishing in prison well beyond their original tariff and subject to lengthy licence periods.
The measures in the Act will:
A) Reduce the qualifying period that triggers the Secretary of State’s duty to refer an IPP offender to the Parole Board to consider whether to terminate the IPP licence from ten years after their initial release from prison to three years (or two years for those convicted when they were under 18, who are serving the equivalent sentence of Detention for Public Protection (DPP));
B) Include a statutory presumption that the IPP licence will be terminated by the Parole Board at the end of the qualifying period. In practice, this will mean strong justification on public protection grounds would be needed not to terminate the licence;
C) Terminate automatically the IPP licence two years after the end of the qualifying period in cases where the Parole Board has not terminated the licence and where the offender has not been recalled to prison in that subsequent two-year period;
D) Create a new power for the Secretary of State to release a recalled IPP offender – without the need for a release decision by the Parole Board – following a process known as Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR);
E) Allow the Secretary of State to disregard the impact of recall where the offender is recalled during the two-year automatic period where in the interests of justice to do so. This means that for an IPP or DPP offender released by the Parole Board or the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State can determine that the offender’s licence will be treated as having remained in force and the two-year period will not reset upon the prisoner’s re-release from prison;
F) Require the Secretary of State to lay an annual report before Parliament about the steps taken to support the rehabilitation of IPP and DPP prisoners and their progress towards release from prison or licence termination.
The implementation of the changes will be staggered, as Napo requested, to try to minimise the impact on already dangerously high workloads. However, we have yet to meet with the employer to look at the details of the proposals. Once we have the full facts we will update members accordingly.
