A dad-of-two is struggling to cope as he enters his ninth year of an indefinite prison sentence for stealing a phone.
In 2011, Thomas White was handed an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence with a minimum term of two years for street robbery, which means he can only be released once he passes parole.
The 36-year-old has been crushed by the weight of his never ending sentence, leaving him emotionally exhausted, with severe mental health issues and prone to lash out at prison guards.
As he battles through each day inside by keeping his young sons in mind, Thomas is also trying to work out how to take courses which aren't offered at his prison but are essential for his parole approval.
Outside, his sister Clara is calling for his release alongside Donna Mooney, whose brother Tommy Nicol tragically took his own life while inside in strikingly similar circumstances.
"It's been nine years of a two year sentence," Thomas told Mirror Online from inside HMP Garth in Lancashire.
"It is soul destroying. Two times I have seriously considered suicide. I have hung nooses up. I have tried to take my own life.
"I know it is not the way. There has to be light at the end of the tunnel, I just need to be given a chance."
Thomas first found himself in trouble with the law as a child growing up in Manchester.
A life in-and-out of foster care and a family home disrupted by domestic violence and alcoholism left Thomas 'tormented', Clara said.
A robbery related charge at the age of 11 preceded troubled teenage years, in which Thomas smoked cannabis, drank alcohol, and stole phones and money.
After his release from a four year sentence Thomas robbed a phone from a couple in Manchester city centre after a night of drinking.
He pleaded guilty to the offence and was given a IPP sentence - an indefinite term introduced under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to keep dangerous prisoners who did not warrant life stretches away from the public.
They were abolished in 2012 by then Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, who described IPPs as a 'stain' on the system.
Those serving IPP sentences already were not released and some 2,039 remain inside UK prisons, with no idea of when or if they will be released and with 94% having served more than their minimum term.
The toll of the indefinite sentence on Thomas, combined with what the family claim is substandard mental health care, has been immense.
“The mental health service in prison has let him down terribly,” Clara claimed.
“He's never been diagnosed even though they know he's unwell.
“My mum went to see him one time. She was disturbed. He was convinced he was Jesus' disciples.”
Thomas’s mental health issues have been exasperated by smoking spice, which leads him to act erratically.
On three occasions during his nine year stretch he has assaulted a prison officer - once by spitting through the doors of a segregation unit at a member of staff.
Thomas has received additional 16 week terms for each attack, which do not alter his IPP sentence beyond acting as a black mark against his name when it comes to parole hearings.
In its annual report, the Independent Monitoring Board for HMP Garth warned IPP prisoners there had “lost hope”, causing their behaviour to deteriorate so much it is “likely that they will never be deemed safe to release.”
“He's done most of his prison sentence in a segregation unit,” Clara said.
“He becomes a target for people in the main prison wing because he's trying to bless everyone.
“I've spoken to him on the phone and he told me he has met the devil. It's really disturbing.
“Your mind goes when you're left alone like that. He has called me up and told me he's going to end his life.
“I've had to ring the prison and tell him I need him to be watched.
“He spent so much time alone he has lost all touch with reality.
“In Norwich he spent a lot of time in segregation, getting sicker and sicker. They leave the light on, so you lose track of what day you're on.”
Clara claims that Thomas has been stabbed by other prisoners while inside and left with no clothes in segregation units.
Each evening at 8.45pm Clara, Thomas and their mum Margaret come together in prayer from their respective rooms, asking that he may soon be released.
They desperately want him moved to the Beacon mental health unit at Garth so he can receive proper treatment, followed by admission to a mental health hospital upon his release.
Clara, who described Thomas’s sentence as like ‘being on death row’, wants him to be re-sentenced as quickly as possible at the very least.
Thomas has found another supporter on the outside in the form of Donna Mooney.
Since her brother Tommy killed himself five years and nine months into an IPP for robbery Donna has campaigned for the sentences to be reformed.
She believes IPP prisoners should be given better mental health support, clear and accessible pathways to parole, and a chance to be re-sentenced.
"It takes away any power that they could have over their lives," Donna said of the IPP sentences, which Tommy described as ‘psychological torture’ before his death.
"It takes away any hope. My brother, he lost all hope. He tried everything that was in his power but it still didn't work."
Like Thomas, Tommy found himself at a prison - HMP Coldingley - where there were no relevant courses for him to complete.
During his time there he wrote a formal complaint that he had not been offered relevant mental health support.
Tommy was transferred twice more to prisons where his behaviour became increasingly erratic, particularly after he was told his next parole review would be in two years' time.
He went on hunger strike, set fire to his cell, self-harmed and made a mask from a paper plate.
No mental health support was offered.
On September 21, 2015, Tommy took his own life.
"When his parole got knocked back it was like dangling a carrot in front of him," Donna said.
"They're (IPP prisoners) doing everything that they can but the parole knocks them back so much."
Thomas has failed three parole hearings in the course of his sentence so far, with his next scheduled for June this year.
On one previous occasion he was too depressed to leave his cell and argue for his release.
Part of his struggle to stay on track toward parole has been the inconsistency of his time inside.
During his nine year stretch Thomas has been moved from prison to prison 16 times.
The transfers disrupt his mental health care plans, Clara claims, often leaving him without the right medication.
His spirits reached a particular low during stints in HMP Norwich and HMP Chelmsford earlier this year, when Thomas began to suffer from intense delusion.
“In Norwich I really wanted to end my life,” he said.
"I went back to how I was when I was a child. I sat in the corner and soiled and wet myself. I think I have PTSD but I haven't been diagnosed with it yet.
"In Chelmsford I was hearing things and seeing things."
As haphazard and faltering as his attempts to receive parole have been, he has not yet given up hope.
"My two babies need me there," Thomas said.
"I haven't seen my boys since they were little babies. My oldest, the last time I saw him was when he was one. It is one of the things that keeps me going - that I am going to be able to hold my babies again.
"I pray to the lord that I will be able to see them again. To do things as a family. To sit down around the table at Christmas.”
A Parole Board spokesman said: “The Parole Board is very aware of the understandable concerns that have been raised about the progress of prisoners serving an IPP sentence.
“Those sentenced before its abolition can only be released when the Parole Board is satisfied that imprisonment is no longer necessary for the protection of the public.
“The Board understands the frustration and loss of hope felt by IPP prisoners and their families and is committed to progressing IPP prisoners where it is safe to do so, as required by law.
“The Board is committed, under its recent strategy, to taking a number of steps that should ensure that IPPs have hope that they can make progress where that is appropriate.”
The Ministry of Justice declined to comment.
