Britain’s former prime decide tells Starmer: End scandal of merciless indefinite jail phrases | EUROtoday

A former lord chief justice has urged Sir Keir Starmer to finish the scandal of merciless indefinite jail phrases, accusing ministers of ignoring “the urgency of the situation”, as scores of prisoners languish in jail with no hope of launch.

Comparing the case of these locked up underneath imprisonment for public safety (IPP) sentences to the Post Office and contaminated blood scandals, Lord John Thomas argued it’s “time for the state to recognise that a mistake has been made” and referred to as for ministers to “bring justice at long last to those never released”.

IPP sentences – recognised as “psychological torture” by the UN – have been scrapped in 2012, however not retrospectively, leaving nearly 2,500 inmates who have been already jailed incarcerated with no launch date as the federal government continues to refuse to resentence them.

At least 94 individuals have taken their very own lives in jail after dropping hope of getting out.

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Victims of the scandal, whose tragic circumstances have been highlighted by The Independentembody Leroy Douglas, who has served nearly 20 years for stealing a cell phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a telephone; and Abdullahi Suleman, 41, who continues to be inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop computer theft.

Lord Thomas, a crossbench peer, final month tabled an modification to the Sentencing Bill calling for IPP prisoners to be given a launch date inside two years of their subsequent parole listening to, however it was voted down by the federal government this week.

It got here alongside one other defeated modification tabled by Edward Garnier KC, a former solicitor common underneath the Conservative authorities, which referred to as for a panel of judges to rethink the plight of each prisoner languishing on an indefinite jail time period.

Now, writing for The IndependentLord Thomas argued that IPP sentences have left some prisoners dealing with “extraordinary” sentences that are “wholly disproportionate to the crime” they dedicated.

“The IPP sentence is now accepted to have been wrong in principle by absolutely everyone. How, therefore, can we as a nation justly continue to imprison people under such a sentence?

“There is no answer to this question, save that the policy of the government is unjust”, he wrote.

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Lord Thomas continued: “Psychiatric evidence is clear that if we lock someone up for an indefinite time for an offence that is not that serious, we are likely to do them damage.

“People on IPP sentences are being subjected to increased risk because their imprisonment is unjust and they lose all hope. It is time for the state to recognise that a mistake has been made.

“If we can do justice in the terrible cases of the Post Office and infected blood scandal, we can do it here.”

Lord Timpson has been on the forefront of attempting to push reform within the new authorities, and is known to have be arguing for lots of the modifications that Lord Thomas specifies in his mission for change.

Even although Mr Lammy confirmed sympathy for change whereas in opposition, he has been reluctant to embrace the modifications he as soon as advocated.

The Independent understands there was heated exchanges on the prime of presidency, with the talk pivoting on the attainable public disdain over the discharge of prisoners towards the compassion of not locking individuals up and throwing away the important thing.

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Lord Thomas’s remarks come simply days after The Independent reported on the plight of 233 prisoners serving indefinite sentences who’ve been transferred to safe psychological well being models, in lots of circumstances as a result of the hopeless nature of the jail time period has left them profoundly broken.

Meanwhile, a senior physician who treats IPP prisoners warned that extra will doubtless take their lives in custody until the federal government strikes to finish the scandal.

Calling for ministers to take pressing motion, Lord Thomas mentioned: “2026 should be the year in which we at last remedy this longstanding injustice.

“It should not be a year when our government leaves the stain of IPP on our otherwise world-renowned system of justice and shows we, as a country, cannot pass the unfailing test of any civilisation.”

The Independent revealed in September that the United Nations will examine whether or not Britain is breaching human rights regulation by arbitrarily detaining prisoners trapped on IPP sentences.

Campaigners and their authorized crew launched a landmark criticism on behalf of 5 males who’ve served a mixed whole of 84 years incarcerated underneath IPP jail phrases, together with for minor crimes.

The case, lodged with the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in September 2025, features a bombshell letter from justice secretary David Lammy, which proves he agrees the jail time period is a “grave injustice” which causes “simply horrendous” psychological trauma.

The letter, written in 2021 when he was shadow justice secretary, says the implementation of the jail time period was “tragically flawed”, including: “It is now painfully clear that the IPP sentence was far too broad, and many low-risk offenders are serving IPP sentences today for committing minor offences in the past.”

Meanwhile, senior judges who imposed the jail phrases have revealed their remorse for his or her half within the “injustice”.

Former High Court decide Sir John Saunders mentioned he would apologise to offenders he handed imprisonment for public safety (IPP) jail phrases, which have been scrapped in 2012, however not retrospectively, leaving 1000’s already jailed incarcerated with no launch date.

The Ministry of Justice has been approached for remark.