The family of a man serving an indefinite prison sentence say they fear for his health after he was transferred back to jail from a secure psychiatric hospital.
Thomas White, 43, was given an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence for stealing a mobile phone in 2012. The sentences, which have no fixed release date, were abolished four months later.
His sister, Clara White, said he was “a severely unwell man who needs treatment, stability and hope”.
The Ministry of Justice has been approached for comment.
Clara said the family “felt a small sense of hope” when White was moved from HMP Manchester to a secure psychiatric hospital, but now say “he is being sent back into the very system that made him ill”.
She said her brother, who has a teenage son, had already been moved between 14 prisons and that this latest transfer would make it his 15th in 14 years.
While he needed treatment and support, he was instead being “sent back to prison with no release date and no certainty about what his future holds”, she said.
White had been binge-drinking in Manchester before he stole a phone from two Christian missionaries in 2012.
He was given an IPP sentence with a minimum tariff of two years. His family said he has now spent more than 14 years in custody, serving more than seven times that period.
The family’s calls for the government to step in come days after Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged to tackle the issue of IPP sentences as part of efforts to address prison overcrowding.
Clara said: “Andy Burnham’s pledge to resolve the IPP injustice is a welcome first step, but we now need a clear timeline and plan from the government.”
