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A hundred adults with learning disabilities have been 'detained' in specialist hospitals for over two decades, it was revealed last night.
People with conditions such as autism and Down's syndrome are trapped in NHS institutions due to failures in finding suitable community care.
Tony Hickmott, 44, who is autistic, has been living in a secure Assessment and Treatment Unit (ATU) for 20 years.
The units are designed to be short-term secure placements for people with learning disabilities to receive treatment before moving back into the community.
Mr Hickmott was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2001 and moved away from his parents' home in Brighton, East Sussex.
His family were initially told he would be away for nine months, but he was only declared 'fit for discharge' by psychiatrists in 2013.
Mr Hickmott is still waiting for local authorities to find him a suitable home and his elderly parents are now fighting for him in court.
Details of his ordeal become public yesterday after BBC News went to court to overturn an order preventing reporting of the case.
People with conditions such as autism and Down's syndrome are trapped in NHS institutions due to failures in finding suitable community care (file photo)
The BBC investigation found that