Prisoners' Release
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department plans to introduce a panel of independent experts to review IPP cases to advise on resentencing.
Answered by Sir Nicholas Dakin
It is right that IPP Sentences were abolished.
The Government is determined to make progress towards safe and sustainable releases for those serving the IPP sentence, but not in a way that undermines public protection. Public protection will always be the top priority.
Resentencing through legislation to give every IPP prisoner a definite release date and post-release licence would result in offenders who are in custody being released irrespective of their remaining risk. This would be the case even where the independent Parole Board had determined, in many cases repeatedly, that they are too dangerous to be released. This would pose an unacceptable level of risk to victims and the public. For that reason, we are firmly of the view that those serving the IPP sentence in prison must satisfy the statutory release test before they are released.
The Justice Committee and various organisations have considered resentencing. None have identified an approach that would not involve too great a risk to the public. The Government also does not wish to give false hope to those serving the sentence by establishing an expert panel.
We do not therefore intend to undertake a resentencing exercise or set up an expert panel to advise on resentencing.
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