Sentences of imprisonment for public protection are under-funded and ineffective, says Julian Broadhead
Is there a man or woman among us who has not puzzled on what the government was thinking when it created the indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP)? In April 2005, at a time when the prisons were full to overflowing and the lifer population had doubled in a decade, the Criminal Justice Act 2003, ss 225 and 226 introduced what is in effect another form of life sentence. But whereas a few hundred life sentences are passed each year, over 3,000 people are now serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection—and that is only in the first two years. It has been officially estimated that the total indeterminate prison population—currently 9,000 including lifers—will have reached 25,000 by 2012. An unimaginable prospect in terms of prison management maybe, but by no means unrealistic, on current trends. One did not need to be a soothsayer to envisage this situation (see 155 NLJ 7174, p 641); why did the government not see it?
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