BITN 917_04,05 (News)

2/3/12

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More people could end up in young offender institutions. Photo: Getty

Childrens homes face an insecure future

Troubled youths could be put at risk because of cuts to spaces available in secure childrens homes, charities have warned. Secure childrens homes (SCHs) are said to provide the highest standards of care and rehabilitation for young offenders aged up to 16, particularly the most vulnerable. But the Youth Justice Board (YJB) has announced that on 1 April it will reduce the number of custodial places in the homes to 166 across England and Wales, marking a decline of over 100 in the past decade. attempts to reduce re-offending cannot come too quickly. The battery farm model of young offender institutions, with hundreds of troubled children under one roof, is wholly inappropriate. The privately run secure training centres have a dismal history around the use of restraint. Cost appears to be the only consideration. The YJB is reducing beds in the effective but expensive secure childrens homes while continuing to rely shown that serious or other lifethreatening warning signs have occurred 285 times when children have been restrained in secure training centres over the past five years, including hospitalisation, loss of consciousness and damage to internal organs.

Use of force
In 2010-11 there were 7,191 incidents of restraint involving youths aged 10-18 in custody and 1,424 reports of self-harm. In 2011, there were 20 deaths and 141 attempted suicides. A report based on an inspection conducted at a young offender institution run by private company Serco last year found the use of force was extremely high, with 150 incidents every month. Deborah Coles, co-director of Inquest, a charity that provides advice following deaths in police custody, warned that young offender institutions and secure training centres could not provide for children in the same way as SCHs. They are not resourced and equipped to deal with societys most vulnerable children, Coles said. Theres a whole wealth of evidence both academic and inspection reports pointing to the fact that these

institutions are not child focused and they cant cope with the complexity of needs that these children have. The Standing Committee for Youth Justice, a group of organisations including Barnardos and Action for Children, said it was really disappointing to see further reductions in spaces at SHCs. A spokesperson said: The child custody population is shrinking but if children are to be imprisoned, secure childrens homes are better than the alternatives offering better trained staff and a more welfareoriented approach. The Youth Justice Board denied that the reduction in spaces at SCHs was related to cost cutting and said the decision was taken solely due to falling custody levels. What we are trying to do is build more specialist centres for children who have multiple problems, because childrens homes arent always the most appropriate centres, a spokesperson said. We dont want to needlessly incarcerate children so we are asking for magistrates to consider handing down more community sentences. Custody should only be a last resort and is reserved for only the most serious offenders.
RYAN GALLAGHER

Vulnerable children
Campaigners say the change could mean that, as an alternative, some vulnerable children will be placed in young offender institutions and secure training centres, which are run more like prisons and suffer from higher levels of violence. Frances Crook, chief executive at the Howard League for Penal Reform, accused the YJB of using a battery farm model as part of a cost saving exercise and wants an overhaul of the youth justice system. Already this year we have seen the suicides of two children in prison custody, she said. A change of policy that prioritises the safety of children and invests in meaningful
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Privately run secure centres have a dismal history. Crook

on huge child jails and privately run training centres.

CPS lead on d
Manchester will host the Crown Prosecution Services first workshop on breaking down the barriers to reporting disabled hate crime. If successful it will go nationwide. Charities, action groups and community networks will discover what advice and support they can offer potential victims of hate crime. Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, a disability hate crime is a criminal offence motivated by hatred or prejudice towards a person because of their actual or perceived disability. High-profile cases involving

Life-threatening
The average population of people aged 10-18 imprisoned last year in England and Wales was more than 2,200. Of these, 79 per cent were held in young offender institutions, 13 per cent in secure training centres and eight per cent in SCHs. Recent figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have

THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH 5-11 MARCH 2012