Today, the UN General Assembly will hear the results of the
Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty. Worldwide, at least 410,000 are held
in detention every year in remand centres and prisons If you assume
the study’s findings and recommendations are not really relevant to a wealthy country
like the UK, think again. As the study finds, being locked up means “deprivation
of rights, agency, visibility, opportunities and love”; and there are all too
many examples of that here in the UK.
Take the Safeguarding Review published last week by the
Youth Custody Service (YCS). It provides an honest and down to earth assessment
of the “harmful cultures that have become inherent in parts of the system” in
England and Wales. “Custody” the review admits “provides a potentially
traumatic environment and establishments with a punitive, macho, hierarchical
culture can further impact on vulnerability and risk of harm.”
The UN Study notes that “States have an obligation to apply child friendly conditions” and children consulted for the study specifically expressed concerns about the lack of child-sensitive procedures. In England and Wales, the YCS admit “there is a lack of child focus at strategic level, thus all subsequent levels of governance within Young Offender Institutions (YOIs)”, whose rules and policies talk about prisoners and inmates rather than children. The Safeguarding Review reports on staff wearing uniform of adult establishments; young people unable to access confidential services such as psychology and social work for security reasons; and a young person prohibited from playing the guitar due to concerns around the use of its strings as a potential ligature with risk aversion “driven by financial penalty rather than a child focus”.
The Safeguarding Review makes many sensible recommendations to embed that focus in staff recruitment and training and the day to day running of establishments- although it’s not clear if they have all been accepted. Some are shockingly basic- for example that all children and young people should have appropriate clothing to their size and the weather conditions; and that the YCS should develop a Strategy for Females.
The UN Study notes that “States have an obligation to apply child friendly conditions” and children consulted for the study specifically expressed concerns about the lack of child-sensitive procedures. In England and Wales, the YCS admit “there is a lack of child focus at strategic level, thus all subsequent levels of governance within Young Offender Institutions (YOIs)”, whose rules and policies talk about prisoners and inmates rather than children. The Safeguarding Review reports on staff wearing uniform of adult establishments; young people unable to access confidential services such as psychology and social work for security reasons; and a young person prohibited from playing the guitar due to concerns around the use of its strings as a potential ligature with risk aversion “driven by financial penalty rather than a child focus”.
The Safeguarding Review makes many sensible recommendations to embed that focus in staff recruitment and training and the day to day running of establishments- although it’s not clear if they have all been accepted. Some are shockingly basic- for example that all children and young people should have appropriate clothing to their size and the weather conditions; and that the YCS should develop a Strategy for Females.
Some of the findings are troubling too; that children can
be allocated to and received by institutions without information about their
needs and vulnerabilities- a “no docs” scenario;
that staff engage in behaviour and language that they also apply sanctions to
young people for; and keeping certain young people apart – the standard approach
to keeping them safe “can increase risk of violence”.
There’s clearly a long way to go to creating the rehabilitative culture the YCS is striving for. The YCS Director welcomes “a refreshing first look” at what can be done to address the problems in YOIs and STCs in particularly but in truth many are longstanding, deep-seated and resistant to reform.
That is why the Government is pinning its hopes on the Secure School- more details of which were supposed to be made available last month. Delay it seems too for Charlie Taylor’s Restraint Review which was due to report in the summer.
But the evidence is mounting that while some institutions are undoubtedly better than others- the Safeguarding Review makes clear that Secure Children’s Homes are considered the best model of practice within the sector-, the fundamental approach is wrong. The Prison and Probation Inspectors have yet again reported on “children … not being effectively prepared to re-enter their communities and start to live productive and safe law-abiding lives The services that they needed on release were often not in place to help them resettle, and the risks that they posed were not always sufficiently managed in their early days in the community”. Nor had those risks been addressed while in custody. So, what is the point?
The failure of custody is one reason why the UN Study has recommended that States should develop and implement a strategy for progressive deinstitutionalization which includes significant investments in family and community-based support and services. States should prioritise the closure of large-scale institutions and avoid the creation of new ones. Plenty of relevance in that .
There’s clearly a long way to go to creating the rehabilitative culture the YCS is striving for. The YCS Director welcomes “a refreshing first look” at what can be done to address the problems in YOIs and STCs in particularly but in truth many are longstanding, deep-seated and resistant to reform.
That is why the Government is pinning its hopes on the Secure School- more details of which were supposed to be made available last month. Delay it seems too for Charlie Taylor’s Restraint Review which was due to report in the summer.
But the evidence is mounting that while some institutions are undoubtedly better than others- the Safeguarding Review makes clear that Secure Children’s Homes are considered the best model of practice within the sector-, the fundamental approach is wrong. The Prison and Probation Inspectors have yet again reported on “children … not being effectively prepared to re-enter their communities and start to live productive and safe law-abiding lives The services that they needed on release were often not in place to help them resettle, and the risks that they posed were not always sufficiently managed in their early days in the community”. Nor had those risks been addressed while in custody. So, what is the point?
The failure of custody is one reason why the UN Study has recommended that States should develop and implement a strategy for progressive deinstitutionalization which includes significant investments in family and community-based support and services. States should prioritise the closure of large-scale institutions and avoid the creation of new ones. Plenty of relevance in that .
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