The Independent has reported that 233 prisoners serving imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences have now been transferred to secure units due to the serious decline in their mental health.
IPP sentences, described as ‘psychological torture’ by the UN, were abolished in 2012 but not retrospectively. As a result, almost 2,500 prisoners who were already serving IPP sentences still remain imprisoned without a release date.
IPP prisoner Thomas White, convicted of stealing a mobile phone, spent 13 years in prison by the time he was transferred to a secure unit, by which time he had developed
psychosis, paranoid schizophrenia and had experienced repeated mental health crises in prison, including setting himself alight and smashing his face on his cell floor.
Two medical reports in 2024 warned that his “lengthy incarceration” was creating “impermeable barriers” to his recovery. Thomas has since learnt that he will be returned to prison – still without a release date – as soon as his mental health stabilises.
Tragically, at least 94 IPP prisoners have taken their own lives in prison after losing hope of ever being released. A senior doctor has warned that more will likely take their lives unless the government moves to end the scandal. For further information click here.