Private 'child jails' to blame for almost half of restraint injuries

[ * Oakhill in Milton Keynes, managed by Group 4 Securicor.
* Hassockfield in County Durham, managed by GEO
* Rainsbrook in Rugby, managed by Rebound (AKA GSL)
* Medway in Kent, managed by Rebound (AKA GSL) ]

Three centres found responsible for nearly 4,000 incidences of 'state-sponsored child abuse'
By Jonathan Owen, The Independent, Sunday, 5 October 2008
 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/private-child-jails-to-blame-for-almost-half-of-restraint-injuries-951822.html

Britain's secure training centres (STCs) - privately run "child prisons"- are using a disproportionate amount of physical force to control children in their care.

A government review into the use of restraint was ordered after the inquests last year into the 2004 deaths of two children at STCs.

Nearly a third of restraint incidents at British juvenile institutions happened in the four STCs, Oakhill, Medway, Hassockfield and Rainsbrook, even though they hold fewer than a tenth of the 3,000 children held in custody, according to government figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

A total of 31 per cent of all restraint incidents from October 2006 to June 2008 occurred in the four centres, with Oakhill (1,493 incidents), Medway (1,419) and Hassockfield (843) STCs topping the league table.
Young children in STCs were also most likely to be injured while being restrained - accounting for 44 per cent of restraint injuries suffered by children in custody from April 2007 to June 2008. Almost one in five of restraint incidents in STCs resulted in injury, compared to 14 per cent in young offender institutions and 6 per cent in local authority-run secure care homes, according to the Howard League for Penal Reform.

The figures have come to light as a report released by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child last Friday showed that Britain is failing to meet standards on improving children's rights.
The UN report, details of which were first revealed in The Independent on Sunday in July, contained more than 120 recommendations, 50 more than the last report six years ago.

The treatment of children in custody remains a key issue, with the UN report warning the Government that it "remains concerned that physical restraint on children is still used in places of deprivation of liberty", and calling on it to ensure that restraint is only used as a "last resort" and not for "disciplinary purposes".

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the civil rights campaign group Liberty, said the UN report gave "the lie to the notion that Britain is a place where 'every child matters'". She concluded: "The restraint techniques used in youth custody are nothing short of state-sponsored child abuse."

And Frances Crook, the director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, warned: "Prisons run by private companies are the worst offenders in terms of relying on outdated and painful restraint techniques, which in any other circumstances could trigger a child protection or police investigation.

"The danger for the general public is that brutalised children are released from custody even more anti-authority and anti-society than before," she said. "It is time the Government banned the use of painful physical restraint on children and closed these kiddy jails down, because they fail the children, they fail victims and they shame the nation."

In theory, staff should physically restrain children only as a last resort. But, in practice, restraint is used on a regular basis, often to maintain discipline, according to campaigners. Children are restrained an average of 670 times a month in England and Wales, and from October 2006 to June 2008 restraint was used 14,076 times on under-18s in custody.

The government review into the use of restraint will be published this autumn. The review was prompted last year by inquests into the deaths of Adam Rickwood, 14, who was restrained shortly before he hanged himself at Hassockfield STC in 2004, and Gareth Myatt, 15, who choked to death on his own vomit while being restrained by staff at Rainsbrook STC. The two died within three months of each other.

Child prisons by numbers

10,137 number of times restraint was used on children in custody between April 2007 and June 2008.

1,342 injuries to children from restraint between April 2007 and June 2008.

1 in 3 restraint incidents occur in four privately run secure training centres.

71 cases of restraint a month (average) in Oakhill secure training centre.

41% of children in secure training centres are girls.


Source for this message:
The Independent, Sunday, 5 October 2008
 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/private-child-jails-to-blame-for-almost-half-of-restraint-injuries-951822.html