Open Letter To The Prime Minister
IPP Committee In Action
Open Letter to the Prime Minister
2nd September
2026
Dear Prime Minister, Andy Burnham,
I am writing to you once again on behalf of IPP Committee in Action, the organisation I founded to campaign for justice for people serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences and for their families.
On 11 September 2025, myself and Bernadette Emerson who was Co founder of IPP Committee in Action personally delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister. We also delivered a copy of the complaint submitted by IPP Committee in Action to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) concerning the continuing detention and treatment of IPP prisoners.
At the time, we were told that, because of the Prime Minister's diary commitments, a meeting could not be arranged.
The circumstances have now changed.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has now issued its opinion concerning IPP prisoners, raising serious concerns about arbitrary detention and international human rights standards.
And today, 26 August 2026, our legal team has submitted a Habeas Corpus application to the court on behalf of IPP prisoners, challenging the lawfulness of their continuing detention. The UNWGAD opinion forms part of the legal basis for this challenge. The case will be heard at Cardiff Crown Court at the end of October 2026
https://greatjames.co.uk/5 minute time on the device 5 minutes/
This is no longer simply a campaign being raised by families. An international human rights body has considered the issue, and the courts are now being asked to consider the lawfulness of continuing detention.
The IPP sentence was abolished by Parliament, yet its consequences continue indefinitely for thousands of people and their families.
A new Government and a new opportunity. You have made it public knowledge that you intend to end the IPP sentence. You are now Prime Minister of a new Government, and Alex Norris MP, Secretary of State for Justice, is responsible for the Ministry of Justice.
I believe this is an opportunity to finally address the IPP crisis, and your announcement to End IPP.
Andy Burnham is right to end the scandal of indefinite sentencing
I am asking you to meet with IPP families, campaigners and the Secretary of State for Justice. Our campaign has never been about releasing people regardless of risk. Public protection must remain paramount. We are asking for a lawful, fair and proportionate system that properly considers those who have spent many years beyond their original tariff, those who have been recalled without committing a further offence, and those whose continued detention is no longer justified.
There must be a definitive end to the indefinite consequences of IPP. I speak as a mother, but for all IPP families. Like thousands of other families, we have experienced the fear, uncertainty and devastation that this sentence and the recall system can cause.
For more than a decade, IPP families have written to Ministers, contacted MPs, attended meetings, campaigned publicly and worked with legal professionals simply to have this injustice properly recognised.
We have now taken the matter to the United Nations. The UN has spoken. The courts are now being asked to consider the lawfulness of continuing detention. Surely this is the moment for the Government to listen.
Prime Minister, I am asking you to meet with us personally, together with Alex Norris MP, Secretary of State for Justice. Please do not simply direct us back to the Ministry of Justice. We have been raising these concerns for years. We now need political leadership and meaningful action. IPP families have waited long enough.
This is a new Government, a new opportunity and a moment for change.
Myself and Lee-Anne Dawson met with the Secretary of State for Justice on the 4th September, the meeting went really well. He listened to us, and was shocked at the cases we presented to him. It is time to act.
Nikki Haydock freed by appeal court. This is a shocking. Please read link below.
https://rozenberg.substack.com/p/flaw-in-the-ipp-system
Prime Minister, please meet with the families before more people are forced to take further legal action simply to be heard.
It is time to listen.
It is time to act.
It is time for justice for IPP prisoners and their families.
Yours sincerely,
Shirley Debono
Founder, IPP Committee in Action
On behalf of IPP prisoners, families and supporters campaigning for justice and a lawful resolution to the continuing IPP crisis.