The People’s Inquiry into the IPP Sentence
Truth. POWER • Accountability. Reparation. Non-Recurrence.
IPP Committee in Action is establishing an independent, family-led and evidence-based People’s Inquiry into the creation, operation and continuing consequences of the Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence. Although the IPP sentence was abolished for new cases in 2012, its consequences continue. People remain imprisoned beyond their original tariffs, while others live under an indeterminate licence carrying the continuing possibility of recall. Families, bereaved relatives, victims and survivors of crime, practitioners and communities have all been affected by a system that has generated profound and enduring questions about justice, public protection, rehabilitation and State responsibility. The Inquiry will undertake a serious examination of what happened, why recognised harms were permitted to continue and what justice now requires. It will place lived experience alongside legal, psychological, criminological, institutional and human-rights evidence—building an authoritative public record capable of informing accountability, reparation, reform and lasting protection against recurrence.
Purpose of the Inquiry
The People’s Inquiry will investigate the full life cycle of the IPP sentence: its political development, legislative creation, judicial application, operation inside prisons, management through parole and probation and continuing effects upon individuals, families, victims, professionals and wider society.
It will ask:
How and why was the IPP sentence created?
What warnings, evidence and foreseeable risks were available to decision-makers?
Why were recognised harms allowed to continue after abolition?
How have imprisonment beyond tariff, repeated recall and indeterminate supervision affected mental health, physical health, recovery and family life?
How effectively have prisons, probation, parole, healthcare and other public bodies discharged their responsibilities?
What has prevented safe release, successful reintegration and meaningful sentence progression?
How have victims and survivors of crime been affected, represented and supported?
What forms of accountability and reparation are now required?
What legal, institutional and cultural safeguards are necessary to ensure that comparable injustice cannot happen again?
Scope of Examination
The Inquiry will examine evidence relating to:
The political and legislative origins of the IPP sentence.
Judicial sentencing and the relationship between tariff length and continued detention.
Access to rehabilitation, offending-behaviour work and meaningful progression.
Parole decision-making, risk assessment and procedural delay.
Recall decisions, including recall for alleged technical or non-criminal breaches.
Mental-health deterioration, self-harm, suicide and deaths connected with the sentence.
Physical health, disability, neurodivergence, trauma and unmet clinical need.
The impact of prolonged uncertainty upon partners, children, parents and wider families.
The experiences and justice needs of victims and survivors of crime.
Release planning, accommodation, addiction treatment and post-release stabilisation.
Professional, institutional and governmental decision-making.
The continuing consequences of indeterminate licensing and supervision.
Possible pathways towards abolition, accountability, reparation and non-recurrence.
National Lived
Experience
and SURVIVORS Justice Council
Meaningful participation will be embedded through one unified body: the National Lived Experience and Survivors Justice Council. The Council will bring together people serving or formerly subject to IPP and DPP sentences, affected and bereaved families, victims and survivors of crime, and people with relevant frontline or community experience.
It will provide a structured and independently supported route through which members can:
Help shape the Inquiry’s questions and priorities.
Identify overlooked experiences, harms and areas of evidence.
Advise upon safe, respectful and accessible participation.
Contribute to the interpretation of emerging themes.
Examine whether proposed recommendations reflect the realities experienced by affected communities.
Inform recommendations capable of producing safer, fairer and more effective justice outcomes.
The different experiences represented within the Council will not be conflated or forced into artificial agreement. Victims and survivors of crime, IPP-affected people and bereaved families may hold different perspectives and justice needs. Each will be treated with dignity, independence and equal seriousness. Participation will have genuine influence. People will not be used as decoration, political theatre or a means of scoring political points.
Evidence and Testimony
The Inquiry will seek evidence from:
People currently serving IPP and DPP sentences.
People released into the community and those who have experienced recall.
Families, partners, children and bereaved relatives.
Victims and survivors of crime.
Former and serving practitioners across prisons, probation, parole, psychology, healthcare and social care.
Lawyers, academics, researchers and human-rights specialists.
Campaigners, charities, support organisations and community groups.
Former ministers, policymakers and others involved in the development or administration of the sentence.
Evidence may include confidential interviews, written testimony, public submissions, professional evidence, case records, official data, policy documents, parliamentary material and existing research. Participation will be supported by clear consent, confidentiality, safeguarding and evidence-management procedures. No participant will be pressured to disclose information publicly, and testimony will not be published without an agreed basis for its use.
Independence and Method
The People’s Inquiry is an independent, non-statutory civic inquiry. It is not controlled by government, political parties or institutions responsible for administering the IPP sentence.
Its work will be guided by principles of:
Independence and intellectual integrity.
Trauma-informed and ethically responsible participation.
Evidential accuracy and transparent methodology.
Equal respect for lived, professional and academic knowledge.
Procedural fairness and the responsible handling of contested evidence.
Public accountability without sensationalism.
Protection from retaliation, exploitation or political misuse.
The Inquiry will follow the evidence wherever it leads. It will distinguish verified facts, testimony, professional opinion and institutional records, while giving individuals and organisations a fair opportunity to respond where necessary.
Intended Outcomes
The Inquiry intends to produce:
A preserved national record of testimony and documentary evidence.
Thematic findings concerning the operation and consequences of IPP.
An examination of institutional and professional responsibility.
Recommendations for legal, policy and operational change.
Proposals concerning accountability, recognition and reparation.
Safeguards designed to prevent comparable injustice from recurring.
Recommendations for supporting victims, survivors, affected people and families.
A framework for safer release, stabilisation and community reintegration.
Public briefings, evidence summaries and a final Inquiry report.
The evidence and learning developed through the Inquiry will also contribute to a wider Intercontinental Youth Justice Manifesto—carrying lessons from the IPP experience into an international framework for humane, evidence-based and transformative justice.
Current Position
The People’s Inquiry is underway. Its multidisciplinary leadership and advisory structure is established and continuing to grow. Governance, ethical participation, evidence management, witness engagement and public-launch arrangements are now being developed. The National Lived Experience and Survivors Council is also being established to ensure that affected people help shape the Inquiry from its foundations through to its findings and recommendations. Further information concerning evidence submissions, witness participation, Council membership, public engagement and the formal launch will be announced through official Inquiry channels.
More Than a Record
The People’s Inquiry exists to establish the truth, preserve evidence, confront institutional failure and determine what meaningful justice now demands. It is an investigation into the past, an intervention in the present and a commitment to ensuring that future generations are never subjected to a comparable injustice.