My Lords, first, I commend, as others have, all those who have, in recent times, been building the road on which we are set today—none more so than the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett. For many years, I have urged, with no success thus far but with great hopes today, the reform of what remains of the IPP sentencing regime. It is in no way hyperbole to describe it, as I already have, as the greatest single stain on the justice system. Indeed, it is a deeper, growing stain because of the situation with the recalls.
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The system was prospectively abolished by LASPO in 2012, but, nevertheless, some 3,000 of these prisoners remain in prison, as noble Lords have heard. By definition, they were sentenced before 2012. Some 1,700 have never been released, and now more than 1,300—a steadily increasing number—have been recalled after release, mostly not for reoffending but rather for some often comparatively minor breach of licence conditions, such as not giving their current address. This is very often because they do not have a satisfactory one.
In recent years, I have been to see many a Lord Chancellor about this growing injustice. All have then been moved on before they have had an opportunity, or certainly the political will, to deal with this. Several ex-Lord Chancellors—the noble and learned Lord, Lord Clarke of Nottingham, and Michael Gove prominent among them—have expressly recognised the deep injustices that these particular prisoners suffer. Many commentators in public life have made the same points, culminating in a stinging column, which I hope some noble Lords caught, by Matthew Parris on 31 July this year, urging the immediate reassessment of all of these people who have been so unjustly treated, remaining incarcerated under this long since discredited system.
I must remind myself that this not a Second Reading speech—I made one of those. Therefore, I shall not, for the most part, repeat the appalling statistics, such as the suicide and self-harm figures—twice as many IPP prisoners as even life prisoners self-harm—that mark this regime; nor shall I describe again the depths of hopelessness, despair and uncertainty that not only these prisoners but of course their families continue to suffer.
However, I emphasise that even my amendment, which the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, described, rightly perhaps, as the most fundamental of this group, falls
well short of the radical proposals that Matthew Parris put forward. I single out just two specific categories of unreleased IPP prisoner—those suffering the most conspicuously from this flagrant injustice. The amendment invites not their immediate release but merely some modest measure of relaxation in their extreme cases. It seeks that, once one of these unfortunate prisoners, by definition sentenced over nine years ago, as I said, has either served at least 10 years over the sentence that was recognised to represent his just punishment, or been locked up for longer than he would have been had he been sentenced to the “maximum determinate sentence” prescribed by law for his offence, then, instead of it still being up to him to prove that he can safely be released with no risk to the public—proving that negative is always most difficult—the burden would shift to the detaining authority, which would have to prove that he would present a serious risk to the public if released, to justify his continued incarceration. I hope that this might be some way of at least countering what one suspects and understands is a risk-averse approach on the part of the Parole Board. This is the only amendment in the group that is directed to giving some early relief to these two categories of the never released.
However, I also strongly support the other amendments: they would, variously, make for better preparation for the release of this cohort, under the existing scheme, and put some real controls on the present exorbitant provisions for recall. The majority concern licences and would go some way toward mitigating the harsher of these provisions, which, in fact, if one thinks about this, reflect or mirror the licence regime that applies altogether more appropriately to actual life-sentence prisoners—those who were justifiably sentenced and actually made subject to that specific life-sentence penalty. Of course, life-sentence prisoners are punished by that sentence for what they have already actually done, and they rightly remain subject to recall for life. But, by contrast, IPPs are being punished for what they might do in future, if they are released. This is preventive detention and, essentially, internment, a concept that we have previously always thought alien and inimical to our system of law.
These amendments would not merely make recall less draconian and lifelong than it is in most cases now; they would cure a particular anomaly, by which actual life-sentence prisoners can be released by order of the Secretary of State, whereas IPPs always have to have the agreement of the Parole Board. In short, it is necessary to legislate to change the law to allow the Secretary of State, on the return of recalled prisoners, to release them when he thinks that they should be released.
I turn to my final point. To anyone, whether the Daily Mail, unthinking politicians or others in the “Lock them up and throw away the key” school of thought, I ask this question. Suppose that, today, an IPP prisoner with a tariff sentence of less than two years—his offending having been adjudged to deserve less than a two-year period of detention as punishment—is still in prison more than 10 years after that two-year sentence has expired. This June, there were 207 in that category—there are hugely more who have served 10 years beyond their slightly longer tariffs. Suppose that that prisoner cannot persuade the Parole Board
that he would pose no risk of reoffending if released. I ask this doubting group: must he remain incarcerated? Is that fair? What if that position remains, five, 10 or 20 years down the line? Are we really going to continue to sanction lifelong internment in this country? Not in my name. I urge these amendments on the House.