Fund the People’s Inquiry into the IPP Sentence

Aim

Fund the independent People’s Inquiry into the IPP sentence to expose its human cost and pursue truth, justice and accountability.

THE PEOPLE’S INQUIRY INTO THE IPP SENTENCE

An abolished sentence is still controlling lives

Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP), and Detention for Public Protection (DPP) for children and young people, were introduced in 2005 and abolished for new cases in 2012. But abolition was not retrospective. People sentenced under IPP and DPP remain imprisoned or live under the continuing threat of recall, while families carry the consequences of sentences with no certain end. Many people have been held years or even decades beyond their minimum terms. The human cost includes deteriorating mental health, self-harm, lost relationships, bereavement and families living under relentless uncertainty. This injustice has continued for more than twenty years. It demands a complete and independent public record.

WHY THIS INQUIRY, AND WHY NOW?

Important investigations and reports have exposed parts of the IPP crisis. What has never been completed is a fully independent, people-led examination of how the sentence was created, expanded, administered and allowed to continue long after its abolition for new cases.

A LANDMARK UNITED NATIONS FINDING

In Opinion No. 16/2026, published in July 2026, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention examined the cases of five people serving IPP sentences. The Working Group concluded that their continued post-tariff detention was arbitrary under international law. It found that the United Kingdom had not demonstrated why their risks could not be managed through less restrictive measures and identified fundamental failures in the available process for challenging continued detention. The Working Group called for appropriate remedy, an enforceable right to compensation and a full and independent investigation.

The fifth petitioner, Joshua McRae, died in custody before the Opinion was published.

Read the full United Nations Opinion No. 16/2026

THE HIGH COURT HABEAS CORPUS CHALLENGE

Following the United Nations finding, applications for habeas corpus were lodged in the High Court on behalf of the four remaining applicants: Leroy Douglas, Wayne Williams, Shaun Lloyd and Abdullahi Suleman. The applications seek their release and ask the High Court to address the legality of their continuing detention in domestic law following the Working Group’s findings. The outcome could have significance extending far beyond these four individual cases. However, the proceedings concern specific applicants and cannot by themselves create the complete historical and institutional record that the wider IPP injustice demands.

Read about the High Court habeas corpus applications

The People’s Inquiry is entirely separate from the High Court proceedings. This Crowdfunder will not finance the habeas corpus applications or any individual litigation. The Inquiry will operate carefully alongside live cases and will not interfere with the administration of justice.

OUR VISION

IPP Committee in Action is establishing The People’s Inquiry into the IPP Sentence: Truth, Accountability, Reparation and Non-Recurrence. The proposed 24-month Inquiry will build a permanent public record of what happened, examine institutional responsibility, preserve testimony and evidence, and develop recommendations capable of preventing an injustice like this from happening again. Our commitment to ending the IPP injustice is clear. The Inquiry’s findings about how it happened, who was responsible and what remedies are required will be determined through an open, fair and evidence-led process.

WHAT THE INQUIRY WILL EXAMINE

The Inquiry will investigate:

• The political, legal and administrative origins of IPP and DPP sentences.
• The sentences’ design, implementation and rapid expansion.
• Their disproportionate impact on young people and people given short minimum terms.
• Access to rehabilitation, treatment and progression through prison.
• Parole, release, recall and the continuing impact of IPP licence conditions.
• Mental health deterioration, disability, self-harm, deaths and family harm.
• Why abolition in 2012 was not made retrospective.
• What ministers, officials, agencies and institutions knew, when they knew it and what action followed.
• The limitations of previous state-led reviews and responses.
• The remedies now required, including retrospective abolition, release or resentencing, reparation, institutional reform and guarantees of non-recurrence.

WHAT MAKES THE PEOPLE’S INQUIRY DIFFERENT?

This will be an independent civil-society Inquiry grounded in evidence and shaped by the people most affected. People serving IPP sentences, those living under IPP licence, families, bereaved families and affected communities will be central to its work. Their testimony will be supported by documentary research and independent legal, psychological and professional expertise. No government department, political party, funder or campaign organisation will be allowed to dictate the Inquiry’s findings. Anyone facing significant criticism will be given the substance of that criticism and a fair opportunity to respond. The People’s Inquiry will not be a statutory public inquiry, a court or a substitute for individual legal advice. It will operate carefully alongside live legal proceedings, appeals, inquests and parole cases.

WHO WE ARE

IPP Committee in Action is a family-led, evidence-based campaign founded and led by Shirley Debono. For years, the campaign has organised families, raised public awareness, protested, petitioned and taken the IPP injustice into Parliament and before international institutions. IPP Committee in Action supported the international human-rights challenge that resulted in Opinion No. 16/2026.

The Inquiry is being developed in conjunction with Adam J. Robinson MA, BA (Hons), who combines direct lived experience of the IPP sentence with academic study in crime, justice, criminology and psychology. The wider Inquiry will bring together affected people, family representatives, researchers and independent legal, psychological and professional advisers. Formal appointments will be announced following written acceptance, conflict checks and the adoption of the Inquiry’s governing documents.

WHAT PHASE ONE WILL DELIVER

This Crowdfunder will support the first six months of the Inquiry. During Phase One, we aim to:

• Adopt and publish the Inquiry’s constitution, Terms of Reference, conflicts policy and financial controls.
• Obtain independent legal, data-protection, safeguarding and evidence-governance advice.
• Establish secure systems for receiving, storing and managing testimony and documents.
• Begin building a verified, source-linked chronology from the origins of IPP to the present.
• Start collecting testimony through trauma-informed and accessible processes.
• Begin a programme of Freedom of Information requests and archive research.
• Establish essential evidence-management and administrative capacity.
• Publish a transparent progress report and initial thematic evidence briefing.

OUR FIRST £10,000

Our initial £10,000 target will establish the Inquiry’s essential foundations.

It will enable us to begin the independent legal and governance work, put secure evidence and data-protection safeguards in place, start the verified chronology and archive programme, and create the systems required to receive evidence responsibly. Reaching this first milestone will allow the Inquiry to begin properly. We will then continue fundraising through further milestones and ongoing donations towards the complete Phase One budget.

THE FULL PHASE ONE BUDGET

Our complete six-month Phase One delivery budget is approximately £50,000:

• £9,000 for independent legal and governance review.
• £8,000 for secure evidence systems and data protection.
• £11,000 for research, source verification, archives and the chronology.
• £7,500 for trauma-informed witness participation, accessibility, transcription and safeguarding.
• £8,500 for evidence management and essential administration.
• £3,500 for publication, accessible reporting and public communications.
• £2,500 for insurance, essential operating costs and controlled contingency.

Any additional amount required to cover payment-processing costs will be clearly accounted for.

IF WE RAISE LESS OR MORE

Every donation will move the Inquiry forward.

If we raise less than the complete Phase One budget, we will prioritise legal and evidence safeguards, secure evidence handling and the verified chronology. The volume and pace of research, participation and publication will be scaled responsibly to the funding available. If we raise more, additional funding will extend the research and evidence programme, improve accessibility and witness participation, strengthen independent review and support later stages of the Inquiry.

HOW THE MONEY WILL BE PROTECTED

All money raised will be restricted to the People’s Inquiry and will not be redirected informally to other projects or used to finance the current habeas corpus proceedings or any other individual legal case. Material expenditure will be subject to two-person approval. We will publish transparent income-and-expenditure information during Phase One and after the funded period. Donations will never purchase access, appointments, influence over witnesses or control over the Inquiry’s findings. Funding that threatens the Inquiry’s independence will be refused or returned where possible.

PLEASE HELP US BUILD THE RECORD

People affected by IPP are not sentences, acronyms, risk scores or administrative cases. They are human beings whose voices and experiences must form part of the public record. Families deserve answers. Those who have suffered deserve truth and accountability. The public deserves to understand how this injustice was created and allowed to continue.

Please donate whatever you can and share this campaign.

Help us build an Inquiry rigorous enough to withstand scrutiny and human enough to honour every life affected.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 29th November 2026 at 2:24pm