UN human rights experts on Wednesday urged The UK government is to review and resentence people still serving prison sentences for protection of the public (IPP) in England and Wales, warning that indefinite detention leads to serious psychological harm, self-harm and an increased risk of suicide.
The experts said something like this 2,400 People stay under that IPP Although Parliament abolished the penalty in 2012, this applies to prisoners who were never released and others who were released but later sent back to prison. Nearly three-quarters of those still not released have reportedly served more than 10 years past their minimum sentence.
The judgment was introduced under sections 225 and 226 of the Act Criminal Justice Act 2003 for criminals who are considered dangerous but whose crimes do not warrant a life sentence. Section 123 The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 abolished IPP punishments. However, the change was not retroactive, so previous rulings remained in effect.
Official data recorded 896 IPP prisoners who had never been released as of March 31, 2026. During a debate in the House of Lords, lawmakers said 99 percent of that group had passed their tariffs. Justice Minister Lord Timpson said the number of prisoners never released fall by 11 percent between March 2025 and March 2026. He added that the average review time for the parole board fell from 18 months to 14.5 months.
The UN experts referred eight individual cases to the government. They included Joseph Brady, who served 18 years on the four-year tariff, and Kerry Parish-McCann, who served 17 years on the three-year tariff. The experts said repeated releases and recalls combined with unsafe detention contributed to serious mental health problems.
The system has been previously examined below Article 5 the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom and security. In the case of James, Wells and Lee v. United KingdomThe European Court of Human Rights found a violation of Article 5(1) because prisoners were detained beyond their tariffs and did not have adequate access to rehabilitation programs necessary to demonstrate that they could be safely released.
The government has continued to rely on its IPP action plan rather than implementing a general resentencing program. The UN experts said parole reviews cannot re-examine whether the original sentence is still justified and called for either a full resentencing or an initial trial based on clear eligibility criteria.
