Around 1,800 rehabilitated offenders still under indefinite
probation oversight for abolished IPP sentences, years after
completing their prison terms, will have this supervision lifted
today (1 November).
Reforms mean IPP offenders who were released from custody at
least five years ago but not sent back to prison in the last two
years will have their licences automatically terminated.
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences were
introduced in 2005 but abolished in 2012 as they were used
inconsistently and more broadly than anticipated.
Offenders on these indefinite sentences have had to wait at least
10 years after their initial release for the Parole Board to
consider terminating their licence. With no guarantee that their
sentence would end, they could be subject to supervision for
their whole lives.
Further changes, effective from 1 February 2025, will cut the
eligibility period for the Parole Board to consider ending
licences from 10 years after first release to three. This will
make an additional 600 former offenders eligible to have their
licenses ended.
Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending,
said:
“It was absolutely right that the IPP sentence was abolished. It
has left many ex-offenders subject to indefinite probation
supervision long after turning their backs on crime.
"IPP offenders who have served their time in prison and lived
safely in the community for years should not be subjected to a
lifetime licence and today we have taken a significant step in
addressing this.”
A former offender expressed relief that their licence has finally
ended. Sentenced in 2006 to 15 months and released in 2007, they
have not been recalled since but have lived with the restrictions
of their licence conditions and uncertainty about their future.
The ex-offender said:
“I am really happy that this order has ended, I have worked
really hard to get myself together and worked with all agencies
in order to do this. I am hopeful for the future.”
Since 2012, the IPP prison population has reduced by over 50 per
cent anyone still in prison serving an IPP sentenced but deemed
still a risk to the public will remain there until the Parole
Board recommends their release.
This will make sure we balance important public protections, with
the need to move offenders who have turned their lives around out
of prison and off licence.
ENDS
NOTE TO EDITORS:
- Those who were sentenced aged under 18 can have their
licences terminated four years following their first release,
with the same provision that they must not have been recalled in
the last two years.
