Man serving indefinite term moved to hospital after six-year campaign

A prisoner driven to psychosis after being jailed for more than a decade under an indeterminate sentence has been moved to a hospital for treatment after a six-year battle by his family and supporters.

- Jessica Murray

Thomas White was sentenced to a minimum of two years in custody under the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) scheme in 2012 for stealing a mobile phone, but remains in prison over a decade later.

His family said the undefined nature of his sentence, and spending years in prison without a release date, caused White to develop serious mental health problems, and he was eventually diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

"He just started to get sicker and sicker - the present system is definitely psychiatric abuse," his sister, Clara White, said. "Without a doubt, he would have died in prison. He was dying. He was dying in front of us. We could see it. But now he has a chance of survival."

She said the family found out last Wednesday that White would be transferred to a medium secure mental health hospital, a move they had fought for since 2019. He is currently living in the hospital ward at HMP Manchester.