Indefinite IPP prisoners face mental-health crisis as government vows to end sentence

Wayne Gregory, a 42-year-old inmate at HMP Garth, smeared a warning on his cell wall in blood after another bout of self-harm, pleading for a coroner’s review of his indefinite IPP detention. He has spent nearly two decades on an open-ended sentence, during which he has repeatedly injured his face and body, a pattern echoed by other IPP prisoners like Carl Lamb, who cut off his ear, and Thomas White, who set himself alight.

Approximately 2,300 people remain on the sentence that was abolished in 2012 and condemned by the UN as psychological torture, with at least 96 suicides recorded. The prime minister recently pledged to eradicate the IPP system before the parliament’s term ends, but the government has not yet detailed how complex inmates will be transitioned to treatment or release. Gregory, whose brother was freed eight years ago, says his anxiety and lack of one-to-one support hinder his progress in rehabilitation courses required for parole. He now hopes to join a habeas corpus challenge against the government’s continued detention of over-tariff IPP prisoners.