FAMILY-LED • EVIDENCE-BASED
FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE

Retrospective abolition of the IPP sentence

On 30 August 2026, the Prime Minister committed the Government to bringing the injustice of IPP sentences to an end during this Parliament. This historic breakthrough must now become urgent, retrospective legislation with a clear timetable, independent judicial decision-making, funded mental-health and resettlement support, and genuine engagement with victims and survivors focused on safer, better criminal justice outcomes. Until every remaining IPP and DPP sentence has been lawfully extinguished, our work continues.

TRUTH • ACCOUNTABILITY • JUSTICE

THE PEOPLE’S INQUIRY INTO THE IPP SENTENCE

Truth. POWER.
Accountability.
Reparation.
Non-Recurrence.

IPP Committee in Action is establishing an independent, evidence-led People’s Inquiry into the creation, operation and continuing consequences of the Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence. Over 24 months, the Inquiry will build an authoritative public record of what happened, why recognised harms were permitted to continue and what justice now requires. Its work will examine prolonged imprisonment, recall, deaths, psychological and family harm, institutional decision-making and professional responsibility—before developing recommendations for accountability, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. People serving or formerly subject to IPP and DPP sentences, bereaved and affected families, and victims and survivors of crime will contribute through distinct, independently supported panels. Their participation will directly shape the Inquiry’s questions, evidence and recommendations.

The People’s Inquiry is underway. Its multidisciplinary team is established and continuing to grow, with a formal international launch in Geneva and a press conference forming part of the Inquiry’s public programme. Further participation and event details will be announced through official Inquiry channels.

Survivors at the heart of the inquiry

Survivors of crime must be heard with dignity, independence and genuine influence. The People’s Inquiry rejects the false choice between supporting survivors and confronting injustice within the penal system. Both are essential to safer, fairer and more effective criminal justice.

We are developing a single National Lived Experience and Survivors Justice Council, bringing together survivors of crime, families and people with lived experience of the penal system. The Council will stand at the forefront of the Inquiry, helping shape its questions, identify overlooked harms, examine evidence and test emerging recommendations. Our ambition is for it to become an enduring national structure through which those affected by crime and criminal justice can influence policy and practice.

Members must have meaningful influence over what the Inquiry examines and recommends, with the freedom to challenge assumptions, express disagreement and contribute independently. Nobody will be expected to endorse a predetermined position. No person’s experience will be used as political theatre or to set one harmed group against another. Through the Council, we will place public safety, institutional accountability, recognition, recovery and the prevention of further harm at the heart of our work.

 WHO WE ARE

An international civil society movement for complete abolition

Founded by Shirley de Bono and built through years of sustained advocacy, IPP Committee in Action has grown into an international civil society movement involving families and people directly affected by IPP. Her work has taken the campaign into Parliament and the United Nations and now brings lived experience into dialogue with senior legal, clinical, academic and human rights expertise. We campaign for the complete retrospective abolition of every remaining IPP and DPP sentence, urgent review led by independent judges and accountability for the enduring harm caused.

We are also convening The People’s Inquiry into the IPP Sentence: Truth, Accountability, Reparation and Non-Recurrence, an independently chaired investigation lasting 24 months that will establish the truth, document harm, secure accountability, develop proposals for reparation and prevent recurrence.

OUR MISSION

IPP Committee in Action campaigns for urgent primary legislation to abolish every remaining IPP and DPP sentence—whether a person is imprisoned, detained following recall or living in the community.

Abolition must end the sentence and its indefinite machinery of detention, licence and recall. Every person affected must have a clear, lawful route out.

We demand legislation that provides for:

• A National IPP Judicial Panel, empowered to direct urgent judicial decisions within binding deadlines, with funded legal representation and rights of challenge and appeal.

• An immediate legality audit of every remaining sentence and detention, examining the original sentencing basis, time served, recall history and grounds for continued restrictions.

• Independent judicial scrutiny of OASys and other risk evidence, including current and historical assessments relied upon to justify detention, recall or restrictions. Senior judges must direct this scrutiny with assistance from independent multidisciplinary experts. Probation must disclose its records and evidence, but must not control the review or determine its outcome.

• A fair judicial process for ending every IPP and DPP sentence, with full credit for time already served and safeguards against retrospective increases in punishment.

• Immediate unconditional release from IPP or DPP detention and restrictions wherever the State cannot establish a lawful basis for their continuation, with any exceptional transitional measures requiring recent, reliable evidence of a current, serious risk relevant to the harm alleged.

• Public accountability, through published judicial reasons, findings and appropriately anonymised evidence, while protecting personal information and the dignity of survivors, families and those serving the sentence.

Exceptional cases must not become an exception to abolition

Where compelling evidence establishes a grave current risk, the IPP or DPP sentence must still end. The legislation must provide a lawful, individual and proportionate response, with independent judicial scrutiny, funded representation and the right to challenge the State’s evidence.

Public protection must be supported by properly resourced accommodation, treatment, safeguarding and reintegration. Any exceptional transitional order must use the least restrictive measures necessary, remain subject to judicial review, and have a strict, non-renewable expiry date.

Any continued detention must have a separate lawful basis compatible with human rights. Neither an OASys score nor a general assertion of dangerousness can, by itself, justify imprisonment. We reject the retrospective manufacture of life sentences and any replacement scheme that reproduces IPP’s indefinite detention and recall.

Risk may inform the lawful route out of IPP. It must never determine whether IPP continues to exist.

One hundred civil society figures signed our joint letter opposing IPP. Our demand is clear: abolish IPP and DPP completely and retrospectively, protect the public through lawful measures, and end this injustice for everyone affected.

IPP IN NUMBERS

8,711 people received an IPP sentence.

As of 30 June 2026:

856 remained imprisoned without ever having been released.

1,415 were imprisoned following recall.

2,271 people were therefore being held in custody under IPP.

Around eight in ten tariff-expired, never-released IPP prisoners had already served at least ten years beyond tariff.

Source: Ministry of Justice, 30 June 2026

HUNDREDS HAVE DIED. THE PUBLIC STILL HAS NO COMPLETE ACCOUNT

Evidence submitted to Parliament recorded 69 self-inflicted deaths and 159 deaths from other causes among IPP prisoners—at least 228 deaths in custody by 2021. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman subsequently confirmed 78 self-inflicted deaths by December 2022. A separate Freedom of Information response identified 122 deaths between January 2015 and February 2025, using a narrower period but a wider setting that included prisons, young offender institutions, approved premises and deaths within 14 days of release. Of those 122 deaths, 27 were classified as self-inflicted. These figures overlap and must not be added together. However, their different dates, definitions and populations expose the central failure: the Government has never published one complete, current and transparent record of every person who has died while subject to IPP. Public discussion that counts only self-inflicted deaths presents an incomplete picture. A classification of “natural causes” does not, by itself, establish that indefinite detention, chronic stress, deteriorating health, delayed treatment, prison conditions or institutional neglect played no contributory role. Not every death can automatically be attributed to IPP. Every death must, however, be independently examined to determine whether the sentence, post-tariff detention, recall, psychological deterioration or failures of care caused or contributed to it. IPP Committee in Action demands a complete public record covering deaths in custody, approved premises and the community, including each person’s tariff, time served beyond tariff, release and recall history, recorded cause of death, inquest findings and any sentence-related contributing factors. Until that record is published, the State cannot credibly claim to know—or have disclosed—the full human cost of IPP.

Sources: Parliamentary evidence, 2021; Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, 2023; PPO Freedom of Information response 615, 2025.

THE OFFENCES FOR WHICH IPP WAS IMPOSED

IPP was not confined to one narrow category of offending. Although the legislation identified 153 specified offences, IPP sentences were imposed across 107 different offences.

• 3,045 for violent offences — 35%

• 2,508 for sexual offences — 27.8%

• 1,882 for robbery offences — 21.6%

• 448 for arson and fire-setting offences — 5.1%

• 355 for other offences — 4.1%

• 232 for acquisitive offences — 2.7%

• 226 for weapons offences — 2.6%

• 11 for drug offences — 0.1%

Approximately 70 people received an IPP for offences for which life imprisonment is not available today, even as the maximum penalty.

This breakdown does not diminish the seriousness of any offence or the harm suffered by victims. It demonstrates how widely IPP was imposed—and why the remaining IPP population cannot be treated as one undifferentiated group.

Source: UNGRIPP, IPP by Numbers, using Ministry of Justice data.

Data note: the published offence categories account for 8,707 sentences, while the published overall total is 8,711. The source does not identify the remaining four cases.

our fight for justice

IPP Committee in Action campaigns for the complete retrospective abolition of every remaining IPP and DPP sentence.

We bring together people directly affected by IPP, families, researchers, legal and clinical experts and civil-society allies. Through the People’s Inquiry, evidence gathering, public advocacy and political engagement, we expose the continuing harm caused by IPP and press for truth, accountability, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.

WRITE TO YOUR MP

On 30 August 2026, the Prime Minister committed the Government to ending the injustice of IPP sentences during this Parliament. That commitment must now become clear, effective legislation. Ask your MP to demand a published timetable, independent judicial decision-making, meaningful engagement with victims and survivors, full disclosure of the evidence needed for accountability, and properly funded mental-health, resettlement and public-protection support.

LATEST NEWS & CAMPAIGN UPDATES

Follow the latest legal developments, People’s Inquiry announcements, campaign activity and media coverage of the continuing IPP injustice.

STAND WITH US

Whether you are directly affected by IPP, supporting somebody you love, a victim or survivor of crime, working within the justice system or committed to safer and fairer justice, you can help shape what comes next. Share the evidence, support the People’s Inquiry and help us hold the Government to its commitment. Together, we must ensure that legislation ends every remaining IPP and DPP sentence through a fair and lawful process, protects victims and the public, and provides properly funded support for everyone affected.