All people serving IPPs can apply to have their licence removed after a period of ten years after their original release. People serving IPPs for non-sexual offences may apply to have their probation supervision suspended after five years (recently increased from 4) from their initial release. One of the areas which caused confusion was how an IPP licence came to an end. In addition to interviewing 30 individuals who had been recalled to prison on IPP licences, we also interviewed prison, probation and parole board staff. The subject of today’s blog post is the end of the IPP experience, how an IPP licence can be terminated and is prompted by the Parole Board’s publication on Wednesday (7 October) of its formal guidance to its members on how to terminate an IPP licence. Many of us are heartened by the Parole Board’s commitment to transparency and continuing drive to put the detail of its practices and procedures in the public domain. What it feels like to be constantly “treading on eggshells” throughout your life for fear of being recalled to prison is the subject of our study. Indeed, in the first quarter of this year, there were more prison recalls than releases (both first releases and subsequent re-releases) of people serving on IPPs. Many will also be aware that a large number of people on IPPs who are eventually released are recalled to prison. Many readers will be aware that most people serving IPPs serve many years beyond their tariff in prison (often because they are not able to access the offending behaviour programmes which could demonstrate a reduction in risk). However, the abolition had no retrospective powers – that is those people already on an IPP had to comply with the original legislation. The IPP sentence ended up being passed 8,711 times including on thousands of people who committed much less serious offences than originally intended and was abolished as being fundamentally unjust in 2012. Once released, people remain subject to an indefinite licence, which they can apply to have cancelled 10 years after their initial release. They would only be released when their risk was considered manageable in the community. Once their tariff expired, the Parole Board would review their case. People would serve a minimum term in prison (their tariff), during which time they would undertake work to reduce the risk they posed. The IPP was introduced through the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and was intended to apply to dangerous people convicted of violent and sexual offences who did not merit a life sentence. The study will be published before the end of the year and provides (I think) a heart-wrenching insight into what feels like the never-ending experience of being subject to an IPP sentence. Transforming Rehabilitation Resource Packįor the last eighteen months Kimmett Edgar and Mia Harris of the Prison Reform Trust and myself have been working on a study into the lived experience of people on IPP sentences who have been recalled to prison.Young Adults in contact with the justice system.Racial disparity and the criminal justice system.Women in contact with the justice system.
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