IPP was abolished for new cases in 2012, yet thousands remain imprisoned, recalled or supervised under it. IPP Committee in Action demands urgent legislation, independent judge-led review and accountability for the enduring harm caused.
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.
“I urge this Labour Government - you created this sentence, now its time to get rid of it altogether”
Shirley de Bono representing IPP Committee in Action at the United Nations.
WHO WE ARE!
IPP Committee in Action is an international pressure movement campaigning for the retrospective abolition of the IPP sentence and accountability for the enduring harms caused by it.
OUR MISSION!
Our mission is to get the Ministry Of Justice to do the right thing and give the sentenced IPPs (indeterminate sentences for public protection) the same justice as they did with the people who committed the same offenses or worse than IPPs after it was abolished in 2012.
After 2012 these people who committed the same offenses or worse than IPP prisoners were given a determinate sentence and released and moved on with their lives, while IPP prisoners are trapped inside prison serving an abolished sentence.
We have collected 100 e-signatures from 100 Civil Society figures opposing the Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP) to attach to the letter below which is addressed to the Secretary Of State For Justice Dominic Raab.
The IPP Sentence was abolished in 2012
2,604 PEOPLE SERVING IPP HAVE SERVED THEIR ORIGINAL SENTENCE.
As of December 2024, there were 2,614 people in prison on an IPP sentence
90 IPP PRISONERS HAVE TAKEN THEIR OWN LIVES IN CUSTODY AND 31 HAVE TAKEN THEIR LIVES IN THE COMMUNITY BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT LIVE WITH THE UNCERTAINTY OF NEVER KNOWING IF OR WHEN THEY WOULD EVER BE RELEASED OR FREE FROM THE IPP.
Below is a breakdown of the crimes that people were sentenced to the IPP sentence
IPP sentences could be given out for 153 specified offences. They were actually given out for 107 offences.
1882 were given for robbery offences (21.6%)
448 were given for fire setting offences (5.1%)
355 were given for other offences (4.1%)
232 were given for acquisitive offences (2.7%)
226 were given for weapons offences (2.6%)
11 were given for drug offences (0.1%)
Around 70 people were given an IPP sentence for offences where a life sentence is not available today, even as the maximum penalty.
The COST OF KEEPING THESE IPP PRISONERS IN PRISON LOCKED UP IS £144 Million PER YEAR.
We Fight to get the IPP sentences abolished retrospectively.
We Involve families and IPP prisoners in everything that we do.
We Organise protests and letter writing.
We listen to people and keep everyone updated on any plans that we make for future events.
Do you know an IPP prisoner? Are you outraged by the injustice? Join the fight and help us put an end to this now.
Please contact your MP and ask them to support EDM 352 by John McDonnell MP