Imprisonment for Public Protection Prisoners Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Imprisonment for Public Protection Prisoners

Lord Carter of Haslemere Excerpts
Monday 6th July 2026

(3 weeks, 3 days ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Carter of Haslemere Portrait Lord Carter of Haslemere (CB)
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My Lords, we know that the psychological harm caused by the IPP sentence adversely affects prisoners’ risk assessments. What are the Government doing to improve the mental health of IPP prisoners so as to improve their prospects of release?

Lord Timpson Portrait Lord Timpson (Lab)
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It was important two years ago to get the IPP prisoners in the right prison so that they could get the support they needed. We have gone from the 70% range to now 95% of IPP prisoners being in the right prison, which means that they can get the right support. Again, it comes back to the question: do we have prisons that are working well and do we have the right support teams around those individuals? I am seeing that regularly. When I go around prisons, I am seeing things getting better, but we still need to do more. We also need to do more to support individuals who are neurodiverse IPP prisoners. The autistic wings that we are developing are a really positive step forward.