Without life, inmate Ian reformed (9)
I believe the answer is:
inanimate
'without life' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'inmate ian reformed' is the wordplay.
'reformed' indicates an anagram.
'inmate'+'ian'='inmateian'
'inmateian' is an anagram of 'INANIMATE'.
(Other definitions for inanimate that I've seen before include "Dull" , "Showing no feeling" , "lacking in spirit" , "Not living" , "Lacking life" .)