A 70-strong coalition of criminal justice experts, campaigners and human rights lawyers has called on the Ministry of Justice under the Labour government to act swiftly to help end the scandal of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences.
The architect of the flawed sentences, former New Labour home secretary Lord Blunkett, told The Independent he backed demands for urgent action from the new government to help IPP prisoners.
The calls come as the prime minister is set to announce a series of emergency measures to free up cells after he revealed he was “shocked” at the scale of the crisis he inherited from the Tories.
Sir Keir called the situation “beyond irresponsible” with prisons set to reach capacity within weeks. New justice secretary Shabana Mahmood is widely expected to use a major speech today to unveil measures aimed at easing the crisis.
Campaigners issued their demands for IPP reform after 121 people had taken their lives under “the cruel, inhumane and degrading” sentences – including 90 in prison and 31 in the community.
Clara White, whose brother Thomas recently set himself alight after serving more than 12 years for stealing a mobile phone, warned more lives will be lost if the government does not act.
The coalition of voices, including Amnesty International, the general secretary of the Prison Officers Association and the Prison Reform Trust, join The Independent in calling for an urgent review of IPP sentences as the country is set to run out of prison spaces within weeks. It is understood there are just 689 spaces left in adult male prisons.
Lord Blunkett told The Independent: “I think this is an excellent initiative with the right kind of asks. I know that the secretary of state, and the new prison, parole and probation minister will want to address these challenges at a very early stage in developing their priorities for action.
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