However, figures highlighted by The Independent in December revealed the government rejected Parole Board recommendations to progress IPP prisoners in 61 per cent of cases in the past year, after they refused to allow 128 serving IPP sentences to be moved to open conditions where they may be allowed day release.
UN torture tsar attacks UK over ‘inhumane’ indefinite jail terms Exclusive: The UN special rapporteur on torture has warned the British government is ‘very likely’ breaching IPP prisoners’ human rights.
Dr Alice Jill Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture, has said those languishing on abolished Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences are being subjected to “psychological torture” and warned the government is “very likely” breaching their human rights by international standards.
The government has come under fire for refusing to resentence IPP inmates, with prisons minister Lord James Timpson telling the House of Lords In November it was “right” that release decisions are made by the independent Parole Board, despite more than 700 having served at least 10 years longer than their minimum term.
The UN torture expert said resentencing IPP prisoners is the only way to “fully end this injustice” as she called for Lord Timpson and justice secretary Shabana Mahmood to look again at resentencing, starting with the longest-serving offenders.
