In 2016, Charlie
Taylor’s Review
of Youth Justice concluded that “fundamental change is needed to the
current youth custody system”. He found children spending too much time in
their cells; inadequate education and rehabilitation; and increasing violence both
among children and towards staff.
This week
Taylor- now Chief Inspector of Prisons-reported
that Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) are still “dominated by violence and
disorder and weak education”. If anything, eight years on, things are worse.
It’s not
surprising that children’s experiences in YOI’s are as dismal as they given the
fundamental unsuitability of prison establishments for their care.
At Feltham
in West London, over the summer two serious incidents of violence led to 34
members of staff being injured.
“Inspectors
saw children trying to get to each other through locked gates as they were
returning from education.”
But most “simply
did not attend enough education to make substantial progress.”
Compare this
to a Secure Childrens Home
(SCH) in Nottingham where inspectors found a much more positive setting. When
children are at risk of hurting themselves or others, staff intervene with
physical holds which are used safely, proportionately, and for a short length
of time. When children do not get on with each other, appropriate action is
taken to prevent potential bullying. Staff work with children to repair
relationships whenever possible.
School
attendance is very high. Some children achieve GCSEs in core subjects, others
study vocational options in line with their career ambitions.
SCH’s are much
smaller facilities than YOIs with better trained staff and a greater ability to
choose which children they take. And they cost a lot more.
So while
they probably cannot replace YOIs altogether, it’s always puzzled me why Taylor’s
Review did not recommend their expansion. They consistently provide high
quality care and education, but the numbers of places have reduced
substantially in recent years
Instead Taylor
arguably overcomplicated matters by inventing a new hybrid institution -the Secure
School- which is both a SCH and a 16-19 Academy. After a protracted and
expensive development of the old Medway Secure Training Centre, Oasis Restore took
its first children in August.
We learned
this week that the Secure School’s Principal Director and Responsible
Individual, Andrew Willetts will start a new job in January, as Chief Executive
Officer at The Orpheus Trust. The
Director of Care and Wellbeing left Oasis Restore in June before the first children
were even placed there.
I don’t know
exactly what lies behind these moves, but it cannot help the stability of any institution
if the leader who’s spent three years preparing it to open departs so soon
after it does. Despite misgivings about the need for a new model of custody, I
hope Oasis Restore proves successful.
In 2016 the
government agreed with the Taylor Review’s vision that YOIs and STCs should
be replaced in the longer term by smaller secure schools situated in the
regions that they serve.
This week’s
bleak inspection reports on youth custody confirm the need for change- but
whether by more Secure Schools or Secure Childrens Homes remains open to
debate.
