Family plea for IPP prisoner after he set himself alight

A prisoner who set himself alight in his cell after serving 12 years for stealing a mobile phone under an indefinite jail term is still fighting to be moved to a hospital.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

Thomas White has developed severe mental health problems in prison as he languishes under a since-abolished imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence.

Earlier this year, the father of one set himself alight in his cell in desperation as he lost hope of ever being freed.

Two medical reports shared with The Independent this summer laid bare the toll of the devastating jail term on the prisoner, who suffers psychosis and religious delusions, as medics warned his “lengthy incarceration” was creating “impermeable barriers” to his recovery.

However, over two months later, his heartbroken sister is still campaigning for him to be transferred to a hospital as he prepares to undergo yet another psychiatric assessment today.

Clara White has begged the Ministry of Justice to move her brother to a hospital to get the care he needs amid fears that “it is only a matter of time” before he makes another attempt on his life.

She told The Independent his condition has deteriorated yet further as he refuses medication in prison and is now being dosed by injection, adding: “It’s criminal what the state has been doing to my brother and the poor families.