Parliament Monday 25th April 2022

Number of IPP Prisoners Never Released Stood At 1,602 on 31 December 2021

This Government has brought forward an amendment relating to IPP licence terminations as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill, which is currently before Parliament. IPP offenders are eligible for Parole Board consideration of whether their IPP licence should be terminated, once 10 years has elapsed since their first release. Note that time spent in prison following recall under the IPP licence does not affect the calculation of the 10 year qualifying period. The Bill will require the Secretary of State to refer all eligible IPP offenders to the Parole Board for consideration of licence termination. This will ensure that eligible IPP offenders have every opportunity to have their licence terminated.

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Prisoners' Release: Temporary Accommodation

Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-5, we will invest £200m per year to transform our approach to rehabilitation. This includes expanding our Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 transitional accommodation service across England and Wales. The service will support those under supervision from probation who are released from prison at risk of homelessness with up to 12-weeks accommodation.

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Prisoners: Self-harm and Suicide

The Secretary of State for Justice has not discussed levels of self-harm and suicide among prisoners held under Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

However, preventing self-harm and self-inflicted deaths of prisoners is a key priority for this Government as set out in the Prisons Strategy White Paper. We are providing prisons with tools to improve the way data is used to identify prisoners at increased risk of suicide and self-harm and we are developing training for staff to improve their understanding and knowledge of what drives self-harm in prisons. For those prisoners at increased risk, we also provide additional support through our targeted case management approach to ensure they receive appropriate care and support, and have also invested in implementing a Key Worker scheme across the estate, providing dedicated staff support to prisoners. We continue to raise staff awareness of the particular risks of self-harm and suicide amongst the IPP population.

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Prison Cell Accommodation - Overcrowding

Prison cell occupancy is certified by the Prison Group Director (PGD) in accordance with Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 17/2012, which provides guidelines for determining cell capacities. Cells are only shared where a PGD has assessed them to be of an adequate size and condition. In addition, they must have adequate lighting, heating, ventilation and fittings, have 24-hour access to water and sanitation, and allow prisoners to communicate at any time with a prison officer. These standards ensure that prisoners are always accommodated safely.
The Government is investing £3.8 billion over the next three years to deliver 20,000 new prison places. These additional prison places will have a positive impact on lowering the proportion of crowding within the prison estate by providing accommodation that is safe, decent and uncrowded.

The 2020/21 Annual Digest shows that, across the year ending in March 2021, 15,941 prisoners were housed in crowded accommodation. Of these, 15,589 were housed in double cells originally designed for one person, and a further 259 were housed in triple cells designed for two people. The remaining 93 were recorded in a miscellaneous category. This category may include those housed in triple cells originally designed for one but will also include those in higher occupancy accommodation designed for fewer people (i.e., 6 people in a room/dormitory designed for 5).