Troubled Inside: Young People in Prison
| Date | 01 June 2004 |
| Published date | 01 June 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200400017 |
| Pages | 24-27 |
| Author | Juliet Lyon |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Troubled Inside: Young People
in Prison
Juliet Lyon
Director
Prison Reform Trust
Focus on…
oung offender institutions are not full
of happy, healthy, well-adjusted teenagers. They hold
some of the most damaged and distressed young
people in our society. So much so that, when a major
academic study was proposed to examine the effects
on the psychological wellbeing of young prisoners in
close proximity to others harming themselves, it soon
became apparent that there was no prospect of
obtaining an uncontaminated control group within the
whole young offender estate.
At some time prior to imprisonment, one in five
young men and 40% of young women will have tried
to kill themselves. Each year a small, but growing,
number of young people commit suicide in custody. In
2003 there were 11 deaths in the 18 to 20 year age
group. Beyond suicide prevention itself, attention
needs to be paid to the majority of young offenders for
whom self-harm and thoughts of suicide are part of
their day-to-day reality.
Our study for the Home Office (Lyon et al, 2000)
presented a disturbed, and disturbing, picture from
young prisoners’ own perspective:
‘Well, I can understand people hanging themselves, but
when people cut their wrists that’s just nasty. It was just
coming out of his arm...’
‘When I was in one YOI about three people tried hanging
themselves.’
‘Everyone used to be at their doors laughing. But it ain’t
funny, they’re mad.’
‘If you see for yourself, mate, you get a shock.’
‘When you hang yourself all your problems are solved.’
Listening to these young men, all aged under 18,
raises questions about why we go on locking up our
Ymost vulnerable and volatile youngsters in places that
are likely to make them worse, not better. How much
damage is done by placing children and young people
with severe mental health problems in prison? How
much harm is caused by exposing troubled young
people to the distress of others, particularly when
hard-pressed prison staff cannot offer the care and
support that so many need?
Young people in need
Currently, there are around 11,000 young people aged
15 to 20 in jail in England and Wales. Of these, 90 per
cent have a diagnosable mental disorder. Ten per cent
will be suffering from a severe psychotic illness
compared with 0.2 per cent of the general population
(Lader et al, 2000). Around two-thirds of all young
prisoners experience anxiety and depression, many in
response to the setting and circumstances in which
they find themselves (Hagell, 2002; Farrant, 2001).
Young prisoners are clearly one of the most needy
and most excluded groups in our society. (Social
Exclusion Unit, 2002). They are 13 times more likely
than other children to have been looked after by their
local authority, and 20 times more likely to have been
excluded from school. They are much more likely
than young people in the community to have slept
rough, used illegal drugs, engaged in hazardous
drinking and become early parents. Up to 30% of
young women in custody report having been sexually
abused in childhood and many young offenders will
have experienced untimely bereavement. There is a
disastrous over-representation of black people in the
criminal justice system to the extent that there are
now more black young men being received into prison
custody than entering university (Commission for
Racial Equality, 2003).
On every measure young offenders are in need and
at risk. But from the time they start offending these
children’s chances of social care, mental health or drug
24 The Mental Health Review Volume 9 Issue 2 June 2004 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2004
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