Prisons - new material (79)
01 April 2011
Young people’s views on restraint in the secure estate. Office of the Children’s Commissioner and User Voice (March) 2011, pp. 24. This report presents the “stark reality” of some young people’s experience of being physically restrained by staff in the secure juvenile estate. The Children’s Commissioner recognises “that members of staff in the secure estate can work with some of the country’s most troubled children. We are not ignorant of the fact that on some occasions, restraining a child can prevent them from causing harm to themselves, members of staff and other children and young people. However, physical force should only ever be used as a measure of last resort and must be done in the safest possible way. It should be used to de-escalate situations without causing further harm or trauma.” He continues: “I was therefore disheartened and concerned to read in the words of the young people who took part in this research some grim personal accounts of their experiences of being restrained. While some understood the reasons why at times restraint was necessary to keep them safe, its use generated both strong emotional responses and bad memories in most participants.” Available as a free download at: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/
Teenage deaths in custody are needless, Deborah Coles. The Guardian 6.5.11. This article discusses the needless deaths of five teenagers in prison custody over a period of five weeks - all apparently took their own lives. Coles, the co-director of INQUEST, argues for “a complete overhaul of the way we treat young people in conflict with the law.” She continues: “These latest are not isolated cases. Since 1990 we have seen the deaths of 31 children aged 14-17 and 117 aged 18-19, the majority self-inflicted.” Coles calls for a holistic public inquiry into this dire situation, observing that: “The fact that successive governments have not seen fit to hold such an inquiry smacks of unaccountability and makes it impossible to learn from failures that have cost children and young people their lives. We can only hope that the deaths of five teenagers in prison and Young Offenders Institutions in as many weeks, shocks the government into decisive action”. Inquest: http://www.inquest.org.uk/