Burnham pledges to fix indefinite jail terms amid overcrowding crisis

Politics
11 Aug 2026 • 5:42 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Burnham pledges to fix indefinite jail terms amid overcrowding crisis

  • Prime Minister Andy Burnham has vowed to resolve the “long-running injustice” of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms to help ease severe prison overcrowding.
  • Mr Burnham has urged Justice Secretary Alex Norris to fast-track plans including releasing lower-risk IPP prisoners and increasing foreign offender removals.
  • The proposed measures aim to create headroom in prisons to avoid the early release of dangerous offenders, including the killers of PC Andrew Harper.
  • Indefinite IPP sentences were abolished in 2012 but non-retrospectively, leaving thousands of inmates trapped in custody beyond their original tariffs.
  • Lawyers are preparing a High Court legal challenge following a UN ruling that Britain's continued detention of certain IPP prisoners is unlawful.

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