Member

These Catch-22 situations for IPP prisoners are illustrated by the harrowing plight of Thomas White, the father who has spent 13 years in prison for the street robbery of a phone, which I raised at Second Reading. Two medical reports last year laid bare the toll of his IPP jail term on the 42 year-old Mr White, warning that his lengthy incarceration had created “impermeable barriers” to his recovery. Recently, Thomas set himself alight in his cell in desperation, and, since then, the latest news from his family and his Member of Parliament is just awful. He is now totally disengaged and has lost hope. The cause is the denial of a hospital transfer, a very key part of this Bill. Thomas’s sister, Clara White, explained the dilemma. She said: