IPP sentences are a stain on the UK – it’s time we did something about them

The case of James Lawrence, a father who has been serving an indefinite sentence for the past 18 years, is just the latest story to prove that this barbaric system must come to an end, writes Ryan Coogan

IPP prisoner James Lawrence, 38, has served almost 18 years for an eight-month jail term (Mandy Lawrence)

In the UK we pride ourselves on our fairness: in the execution of our democracy, in our trustworthy and unbiased media ecosystem, and in our execution of law and justice. We are, we tell ourselves, a civilised and forward-thinking nation.

Of course, that notion is constantly being challenged – our political establishment is currently being undermined by online misinformation; our media ecosystem is constantly showing signs of bias; and our justice system is often anything but. Nowhere is that last point clearer than in the tragedy of our prisoners who are serving imprisonment for public protection (IPP) jail sentences.

If you don’t know, IPP sentences are jail terms which carry a minimum sentence, but not a maximum. This means that they can carry on, as their name suggests, indefinitely. They were introduced by New Labour in 2005, and while they were scrapped in 2012 due to human rights concerns, that change in policy did not apply retrospectively. As such, there are still 2,734 prisoners serving IPP sentences in the UK – 700 of which have served more than 10 years longer than their minimum tariff.

In 2006, James Lawrence was handed an IPP with an eight-month minimum term for threatening somebody with a starting pistol. He says he began carrying the weapon for protection after almost being killed in a stabbing the previous year. Since IPP prisoners can be recalled to jail without further convictions being passed down, Lawrence has been forced to return to prison five times in the past two decades, and still resides there now. On one occasion he was recalled for missing his curfew by two hours – on another it was because he disappeared to be with his pregnant girlfriend.

IPP prisoners are at heightened risk for self-harm and suicide, with more than 90 ending their lives in prison. Lawrence himself has made six attempts on his own life since first being sentenced 18 years ago.

Let me be very clear: you can’t go around threatening people with violence, armed or otherwise. As somebody who has been threatened with a weapon on more than one occasion, I can attest, it isn’t an experience I wouldn’t wish on anybody. It can lead to serious mental and physical health complications for the victim like PTSD and anxiety attacks, regardless of whether the weapon is actually used.

But the point of our justice system isn’t to endlessly punish offenders until they lose all hope of ever re-entering society. As much as some corners of the UK would quite happily have it otherwise, prisons aren’t torture centres, and prisoners are still human beings, worthy of compassion and respect.

Imprisoning somebody for an indefinite period of time and giving them no hope of ever being released is a premise I’d expect to read in a particularly unsubtle Kafka novel, or a piece of overwrought dystopian YA fiction – not a major newspaper in a functioning democracy. That “torture” comment wasn’t hyperbole – the UN as described IPP sentences as a form of “psychological torture” in the past. Is that really the version of Britain that you want to live in? That you want your family to live in?

How exactly has this been allowed to happen? These are human lives we’re talking about, not an inconvenient chore we can’t be bothered with that can be put off in perpetuity. Allowing them to languish in hopelessness and fear is inhuman, and antithetical to everything this country is supposed to stand for.

The Independent has repeatedly called for all IPP prisoners to have their sentences reviewed, and with good reason. Their never-ending cycle of misery is a stain on our criminal justice system, and a disgrace to our country.

This torture must end – not eventually, but right now.