🛑 System Failure: CAMPAIGNING LAWYER CALLS ON PRIME MINISTER TO END SHOCKING IPP SCANDAL

Campaigning Lawyer and CEO of CAMPAIGN FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE Peter Stefanovic – who’s films have been watched hundreds of millions of times online – has posted a new film, this time calling on the Prime Minister Keir Starmer to end the IPP scandal by backing a Private Members’ Bill by Labour peer Lord Woodley – the Imprisonment for Public Protection (Resentencing) Bill. Stefanovic has also called on the government to allow a free vote on this bill.

BACKGROUND

Some background information:

IPP sentences were introduced in England and Wales by the then New Labour government with the Criminal Justice Act 2003, as it sought to prove it was tough on law and order. These sentences were established to detain indefinitely serious offenders who were perceived to be a risk to the public. However, they were also used against offenders who had committed low-level crimes.

Astonishingly, this sentence has led to some people spending 18 years in jail for trying to steal a coat or imprisoned for 11 years for stealing a mobile phone. In one instance 16 years in jail for stealing a flowerpot. 

UNLAWFUL

In 2012, after widespread condemnation and a ruling by the European court of human rights that such sentences were, “arbitrary and therefore unlawful”, IPP terms were abolished by the Conservative government. As the measure was not retrospective, thousands remain in prison.

Over 90 people serving sentences under the discredited IPP regime have sadly taken their own lives whilst in prison. In 2023 we saw the second year in a row of the highest number of self-inflicted deaths since the IPP sentence was introduced. This cannot be ignored.

Lord Brown, former supreme court justice called IPP sentences: “the greatest single stain on the justice system”. When Michael Gove was justice secretary, he recommended, “executive clemency” for IPP prisoners who had served terms far longer than their tariffs. But he didn’t act on it. Lord Blunkett, the Labour Home Secretary who introduced the sentences, regrets them, stating: “I got it wrong.” And more recently, Dr Alice Edwards, the UN rapporteur for torture has called IPP sentences an “egregious miscarriage of justice.” Even former Justice Secretary Alex Chalk KC has called them a stain on the justice system, yet despite that, the Conservative Government refused to implement the Justice Committees recommendation to re-sentence all prisoners subject to IPP sentences and the Labour government has so far similarly refused to engage in a resentencing exercise for those subject to IPP’s.

CAMPAIGN FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

Campaign groups and their families have been fighting to end this tragic miscarriage of justice for more than a decade and films posted online by social media sensation and campaigner Peter Stefanovic have ignited a wider public storm on this tragic miscarriage of justice. 

You can watch Stefanovic’s latest film here; https://x.com/peterstefanovi2/status/1927420211331772461?s=46&t=g6PUk4YExrOYprJSzQZ3lw

It is not surprising that the public reaction to his films have been one of shock, outrage, and disbelief.

PUBLIC SUPPORT

Stefanovic has said:

“The public support for my films has been overwhelming and the comments they are getting are a testament to the public’s anger, outrage and disbelief at this tragic miscarriage of justice.”

HOPE FOR JUSTICE

Now – a fresh attempt will be made to resolve the IPP scandal once and for all in the form of a Private Members’ Bill by the Labour peer Lord Woodley – the Imprisonment for Public Protection (Resentencing) Bill – a bill which Stefanovic is backing. In his latest film Stefanovic included an interview with Lord Woodley in which he asked the Labour peer about the importance of his bill. This was Lord Woolley’s reply:

“We’ve got a right as human beings to try and get things right and that’s why it’s really important that we force the government to take action and resentence these people who have no hope in life whatsoever at the moment”

Lord Woodley agrees with calls for a free vote on his bill. “It takes the politics out of it, instead of everyone fighting to say we don’t want to be seen to be weak on crime. It’s not about weak, it’s about fairplay, fairness, it’s about justice, it’s about treating families and family members with a degree of fairness and that’s why I think a free and open vote will allow people to see the justification in what we are asking for do the right thing” he says passionately.

If Lord Woodley’s Bill becomes law it will place the Justice Secretary under a legal obligation to ensure that all those serving an IPP sentence – whether in prison or in the community – are retrospectively given a determinate sentence. 

To end the injustice faced by those serving IPP sentences the House of Commons Justice Select Committee has recommended a resentencing exercise take place, overseen by a panel of experts, for everyone still serving these sentences as the only way to address the unique injustice caused by the IPP sentence – but the Labour government has so far refused to engage with a such an exercise with Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood telling MPs:

“We are not considering a resentencing exercise for IPP prisoners because that would automatically release a number of people who we do not believe would be safe to release”

However, as Stefanovic points out in his latest film 

“the resentencing exercise recommended by the House of Commons Justice Select Committee would be overseen by a panel of experts who would explore how resentencing could happen in a timely way but one that would NOT jeopardise public protection – so it doesn’t mean immediate & automatic release as the Justice Secretary wrongly suggests”

Campaigners have recently hit out at the “short-sighted” decision not to include prisoners on indefinite sentences in the plans announced last week to reduce the prison population.

SENTENCING REVIEW

On Thursday 22^nd May, the government published its long-awaited sentencing review, led by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke, who recommended that some offenders who behave well in jail only serve a third of their term in custody before being released.

Not included in the scheme are prisoners serving IPP sentences. With Government Ministers saying they have inherited a prison system “on verge of collapse” Stefanovic says this is “nonsensical”. He concludes his latest film with strong words:

“So for heavens sake (Prime Minister) get behind Lord Woodley’s bill –  If our prisons are at breaking point why on earth are prisoners given a 12 month sentence still there 19 years later whilst others are released early, it’s completely non sensical –  almost three thousand people serving IPP sentences from behind bars is the equivalent to the population of four medium-sized men’s prisons, resentencing them will not only end once and for all one of the most cruel and monumental injustices of the past half century it will also head off the medium-term prison capacity crisis at the same time…the simple fact is that by refusing to engage in the resentencing exercise recommended by the House of Commons Justice Select Committee the Labour government is now allowing one of the most cruel, inhumane and monumental injustices of the past half-century – a scandal rightly described as a stain on our justice system – a scandal described by the U N rapporteur for torture as an egregious miscarriage of justice and psychological torture – and which likely breaches Article 3 of the Human Rights Act to be continued and perpetrated – this has got to end, so please prime minister – end this appalling injustice once and for all by getting behind and supporting Lord Woodleys bill – please don’t wait for the next ITV drama to do the right thing”