(2) how many prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for public protection had been released (a) following the completion of a pre-release rehabilitation course and (b) without having had access to a pre-release rehabilitation course on the latest date for which figures are available; and what recent estimate he has made of the number of prisoners who are waiting for access to such a course;
(3) how many prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for public protection had been recalled following release on the latest date for which figures are available;
(4) how many prisoners of each (a) age group, (b) sex and (c) ethnicity are serving indeterminate sentences for public protection;
(5) how many indeterminate sentences for public protection have been handed down for each type of offence in each month since their introduction;
(6) how many (a) men and (b) women sentenced to indeterminate sentences for public protection have been released in each month since the introduction of such sentences;
(7) how many indeterminate sentences for public protection have had a minimum term of (a) 12 months or less, (b) two years or less, (c) five years or less, (d) 10 years or less and (e) more than 10 years in each month since their introduction;
(8) how many prisoners on an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) have served longer than their tariff in each month since the introduction of IPPs; and what the average minimum length of a completed IPP has been.
Indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) are by definition indeterminate and therefore cannot be extended. The trial judge specifies the minimum period to be served for the purpose of punishment. Whether the prisoner is released at this point or any subsequent point is then a matter for the Parole Board, who will assess whether he can safely be managed in the community. IPP prisoners will be released only when the Parole Board considers that to be safe.
Information is available centrally on the numbers of IPPs who have had access to courses promoting their rehabilitation. Information is also held centrally on the numbers of prisoners who have completed courses promoting their rehabilitation. Similarly, there is centrally held data on the numbers of IPPs who have been released from custody. However, there is no centrally held data set which links all three elements to show the numbers of IPPs who have been released from custody with or without access to a rehabilitation course. There are no centrally available reliable figures on the number of IPPs who are waiting to access such a course. NOMS is currently undertaking a mapping exercise in respect of the balance of resources available for interventions across custody and the community. NOMS is also committed to reviewing IPPs’ interventions needs, on the basis of their sentence plan recommendations.
14 prisoners serving indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection have been recalled following release, up to 30 April 2009.
The NOMS IPP database is updated every other month, based on data provided by establishments. As with any large scale recording system, the database is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
The NOMS IPP database showed that, of the 5,246 offenders serving indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection on 24 April 2009:
409 were under 21 years of age
2,975 were between 21 and 35 years of age
1,493 were between 36 and 50 years of age
304 were between 51 and 65 years of age
65 were aged 66 and above
145 were female.
These figures include those subject to imprisonment for public protection (IPP), young prisoners subject to detention for public protection (DPP), and the 104 offenders of this type who are located in a secure psychiatric hospital.
Information on the ethnicity of these prisoners is not available. However, the latest figures to provide a breakdown by ethnicity of those prisoners serving indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection were given in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2007, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library. The percentage figures, as at 30 June 2007, were:
Percentage White 78 Mixed 3 Asian or Asian British 3 Black or Black British 14 Chinese or Other 1
Up to 30 April 2009, 60 offenders serving indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection had been released from custody. The breakdown of the number of offenders released each calendar month, by gender, is given in the table.
Male Female Total 2006 December 1 — 1 2007 March 1 — 1 April — 1 1 June 1 — 1 July 3 — 3 August 2 — 2 September — 2 2 October 2 — 2 2008 January 2 — 2 February 1 — 1 March 4 — 4 April 1 — 1 May 2 — 2 June 4 — 4 July 1 — 1 August 5 — 5 September 3 — 3 October 3 — 3 November 4 1 5 December 4 — 4 2009 January 5 — 5 February 4 — 4 March 1 — 1 April 2 — 2 Total 56 4 60
The following table lists the minimum terms for indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection given in each month since the introduction of that sentence where figures are available. These figures are taken from the Public Protection Unit Database within the National Offender Management Service. As with any large scale recording system, it is subject to possible errors arising from either data entry or processing.
Month of sentence Tariff not specified Less than or equal to 1 year Greater than 1 less than or equal to 2 years Greater than 2 less than or equal to 5 years Greater than 5 less than or equal to 10 years Greater than 10 years Total May 2005 — — 3 1 — — 4 June 2005 — 1 6 6 — — 13 July 2005 — 2 5 20 1 — 28 August 2005 1 2 16 23 4 — 46 September 2005 2 9 34 36 2 — 83 October 2005 3 8 38 46 2 — 97 November 2005 1 11 41 41 3 — 97 December 2005 — 5 23 45 4 — 77 January 2006 3 5 22 50 6 1 87 February 2006 — 6 29 70 7 1 113 March 2006 1 7 52 82 8 — 150 April 2006 — 7 30 55 10 — 102 May 2006 1 4 40 63 6 1 115 June 2006 — 14 45 82 18 — 159 July 2006 — 8 35 92 12 — 147 August 2006 — 5 29 74 9 — 117 September 2006 1 10 37 87 12 2 149 October 2006 — 13 20 68 14 — 115 November 2006 2 7 45 111 14 2 181 December 2006 — 7 33 117 18 — 175 January 2007 1 12 28 85 17 — 143 February 2007 — 10 39 84 17 — 150 March 2007 — 12 52 106 13 1 184 April 2007 — 9 22 89 12 — 132 May 2007 — 12 33 91 13 — 149 June 2007 2 12 45 83 12 1 155 July 2007 4 8 30 87 19 1 149 August 2007 3 11 30 55 13 — 112 September 2007 5 9 31 89 20 — 154 October 2007 4 3 34 76 16 — 133 November 2007 7 9 36 102 15 2 171 December 2007 7 12 27 77 15 — 138 January 2008 8 8 30 65 21 5 137 February 2008 9 9 36 98 22 — 174 March 2008 11 6 32 70 16 6 141 April 2008 7 5 33 77 20 2 144 May 2008 7 10 36 69 21 2 145 June 2008 7 8 23 69 20 4 131 July 2008 5 5 15 50 16 — 91 August 2008 2 0 6 40 7 — 55 September 2008 9 0 13 46 12 2 82 October 2008 9 0 12 51 13 — 85 November 2008 14 0 6 39 14 2 75 December 2008 33 0 5 36 8 — 82
The total number of those listed above is slightly less than the IPPs received into custody as the tariff has to be recalculated and confirmed by the Public Protection Casework Section following receipt of the trial judge sentencing remarks. The time taken to carry out this process means that a number of recently sentenced IPPs are therefore not included in the above table.
From 14 July 2008 the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 brought in changes to the sentencing framework for IPP sentences, to ensure that they are focused where they can be most effective in protecting the public: on the most serious offenders. The amendments introduced a minimum tariff of two years below which IPPs cannot be given except where offenders have committed extremely serious crimes in the past.
The figures in the following table were taken on 24 April 2009 from the NOMS IPP database, referred to above, and include the same prisoner groups previously mentioned. The table gives the cumulative numbers of prisoners who were beyond tariff at the end of each month since the introduction of the IPP sentence. As the NOMS IPP database captures data on current IPPs only, these figures do not include IPPs who have already been discharged.
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 January n/a 4 84 551 1,456 February n/a 6 102 592 1,550 March n/a 8 126 648 1,621 April 0 11 148 712 1,711 May 0 14 183 793 n/a June 0 16 224 867 n/a July 0 21 259 931 n/a August 0 31 305 1,017 n/a September 0 33 351 1,093 n/a October 0 40 395 1,168 n/a November 2 51 442 1,266 n/a December 3 64 497 1,363 n/a
The average tariff of those who were released was one year and 134 days. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
The information requested to answer how many indeterminate sentences for public protection have been handed down for each type of offence in each month since their introduction is shown in the following tables.
Month/offence Arson GBH wounding, assault, ABH, etc. Robbery, aggravated burglary, etc. Possession of a firearm Sexual offences Threats to kill May 2005 — — 3 — 1 — June 2005 1 3 6 — 1 — July 2005 1 4 18 — 4 — August 2005 6 13 19 — 4 1 September 2005 2 13 42 — 14 3 October 2005 7 25 36 2 11 3 November 2005 1 14 40 3 20 1 December 2005 8 19 22 3 14 — January 2006 7 17 29 5 19 — February 2006 4 26 45 2 22 2 March 2006 5 54 43 5 23 4 April 2006 5 23 32 7 22 3 May 2006 10 35 25 4 23 4 June 2006 14 42 46 6 32 — July 2006 11 41 39 6 28 2 August 2006 1 35 36 6 23 — September 2006 7 36 38 8 33 6 October 2006 6 30 31 6 26 3 November 2006 13 53 48 6 29 4 December 2006 9 39 54 4 40 6 January 2007 8 31 42 7 39 2 February 2007 9 38 35 3 37 1 March 2007 15 52 45 6 35 5 April 2007 8 36 29 2 36 4 May 2007 8 51 36 1 37 — June 2007 11 39 34 10 38 6 July 2007 5 47 36 5 39 6 August 2007 4 26 30 4 35 1 September 2007 4 41 41 5 43 4 October 2007 8 34 40 5 28 3 November 2007 — 57 43 4 40 4 December 2007 5 39 38 3 32 2 January 2008 7 35 50 — 35 2 February 2008 7 46 50 4 46 6 March 2008 6 39 21 5 40 2 April 2008 12 43 26 7 39 3 May 2008 9 33 34 9 44 1 June 2008 4 30 36 4 42 2 July 2008 4 25 14 1 32 1 August 2008 — 17 16 1 14 2 September 2008 5 22 19 1 21 2 October 2008 6 18 21 2 27 6 November 2008 6 20 15 — 21 1 December 2008 5 19 24 4 14 —
Month/offence Possession of an offensive weapon Manslaughter Attempted murder Other offences Total May 2005 — — — — 4 June 2005 — — — 2 13 July 2005 — — — 1 28 August 2005 — — — 3 46 September 2005 1 — 1 7 83 October 2005 — 3 1 9 97 November 2005 — 3 3 12 97 December 2005 2 2 1 6 77 January 2006 — 1 4 5 87 February 2006 — 3 1 8 113 March 2006 — 1 2 13 150 April 2006 2 — 3 5 102 May 2006 2 2 1 9 115 June 2006 1 2 2 14 159 July 2006 — 4 3 13 147 August 2006 4 1 4 7 117 September 2006 1 2 2 16 149 October 2006 — 2 4 7 115 November 2006 — 6 6 16 181 December 2006 1 3 3 16 175 January 2007 — 1 — 13 143 February 2007 2 11 5 9 150 March 2007 — 7 1 18 184 April 2007 2 6 2 7 132 May 2007 1 1 3 11 149 June 2007 1 5 6 5 155 July 2007 — 3 4 4 149 August 2007 1 3 2 6 112 September 2007 — 2 1 13 154 October 2007 1 1 5 8 133 November 2007 1 — 4 18 171 December 2007 — 5 5 9 138 January 2008 — 3 — 5 137 February 2008 — 3 4 8 174 March 2008 — 7 9 12 141 April 2008 — 2 4 8 144 May 2008 — 3 5 7 145 June 2008 — 4 8 1 131 July 2008 — 2 4 8 91 August 2008 1 — 1 3 55 September 2008 — 2 5 5 82 October 2008 — — 1 4 85 November 2008 — 5 5 2 75 December 2008 — 2 8 6 82