Ending the detention of people on IPP sentences

• Published: 2025

• Pages: 26

• Publisher: The Howard League for Penal Reform

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Ending the detention of people on IPP sentences

This report, produced by an expert working group led by a former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, presents considered proposals aimed at protecting the public while ending the long-running IPP scandal for good.

Convened by the Howard League and chaired by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the group spent months exploring ways to end the detention of people serving indeterminate sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP).

The report puts forward six recommendations – including an important change to the Parole Board test, which would require the Parole Board to give people on IPP sentences a certain release date, within a two-year window, and to set out what action is required to achieve that safely.