The IPP campaign in the spotlight: campaigners stage a protest outside Parliament, while inside, Lord Thomas backs new recommendations to end IPPs.
The Trapped team report on two new IPP campaigns: one inside and one outside of Westminster, during the Summer of 2025. On 18th July 2025, the TikTok campaign group injustice_of_ipp staged a demonstration outside Parliament. Protesters and former prisoners describe the inhumane impact of indefinite detention, including widespread mental health crises and suicides (95 deaths to date).
Inside Parliament, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, a former senior judge, reflects on how the IPP system was 'a failed experiment', intended to predict dangerousness but resulting in unjust, indefinite punishment. In June, 2025 Lord Thomas and The Howard League for Penal Reform published new recommendations to end the “IPP stain,” arguing that the government’s current IPP Action Plan is ineffective. How will the Prison’s Minister, Lord James Timpson, and the government, react?
Read the Howard League’s 2025 proposals to end the detention of people on IPP sentences: https://howardleague.org/news/expert-working-group-publishes-proposals-to-end-the-detention-of-people-on-ipp-sentences/
Contributors in order of appearance:
Deborah Ingram, mother of IPP serving prisoner Levi
Roddy Russell, brother of IPP serving prisoner Robert
Stacey Clough, partner of IPP serving prisoner
Andrew Morris, Former IPP prisoner and Trustee of the Howard League
Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (2013 – 2017)
David Parker, IPP prisoner on licence
Mandy Slade, mother of David Parker
Katie Best, wife of IPP serving prisoner John
Melissa, former prison officer | Off the Cuff with Mel
Andrea Coomber, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform | howardleague.org
Voices in archive:
Lord Daniel Moylan
Lord James Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation
Production Credits:
Presenter: Roddy Russell | @1roddyRussell
Executive Producer: Melissa FitzGerald | @Melissafitzg
Producer: Steve Langridge | @SMLANGERS
Consultant: Hank Rossi
An Ear Worm Production for the Institute of Now
Get involved:
➕ Follow Trapped on X, TikTok, Facebook or Instagram @Trapped_Pod
🔎 Search #IPPScandal for more stories.
🗣️ Read more about the IPP campaign: UNGRIPP | www.ungripp.com | @UNGRIPP | IPP Committee In Action @ActionIpp | injustice_of_ipp
✔️ Like, follow and share this podcast to get people listening: knowledge is power and the more who know, the harder it is for injustice to take place.
✍️ Write to your MP and ask them to raise questions about IPPs in Parliament
⬇️ Download the Trapped series episode transcripts here: https://drive.google.com
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