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Thousands of prisoners languishing in prison indefinitely deserve “justice” and should be resentenced as a priority, the UN’s leading torture expert has said.
Speaking to Sky News, Alice Jill Edwards described sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) as a “horrific indictment of the British justice system”.
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IPP was introduced by Labour in 2005, allowing courts to impose prison sentences with no release date.
They were abolished by the coalition government in 2012, but the change was not applied retrospectively, meaning approximately 2,852 prisoners remain behind bars – including 1,227 who have never been released.
Ms Edwards, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, called upon the new government to commit to a full or partial resentencing exercise for those still in jail.
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer’s administration grapples with an overcrowding crisis, forcing the activation of an emergency measure allowing defendants to be held in police cells for longer.
Ms Edwards said it was “unfortunate” recent measures taken – including letting prisoners out early – did not include those serving an IPP, which she has previously described as a form of “psychological torture”.
‘The only thing to satisfy the public’
Ms Edwards, who has written to the government over the issue, said she hoped Labour’s focus on reducing the prison population would mean there would be “changes substantive enough” to bring the IPP scandal to an end.
IPP was intended for violent and sexual offenders who posed a…
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