Youth Justice News
| Date | 01 August 2008 |
| Published date | 01 August 2008 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225408091378 |
| Author | Tim Bateman |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
A R T I C L E
Copyright © 2008 The National Association for Youth Justice
Published by SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)
www.sagepublications.com
ISSN 1473–2254, Vol 8(2): 172–177
DOI: 10.1177/1473225408091378
Youth Justice News
Compiled by Tim Bateman
Correspondence: Tim Bateman, Nacro, 10–12 Lawn Lane, London SW8 1UD.
Email: tim.bateman@nacro.org.uk
Inspection Finds ‘Staggering Levels’ of Use of Force at Secure
Training Centre
A report of an announced inspection of Oakhill secure training centre (STC) in Milton Keynes,
England – published in March 2008 – confi rmed that staff at the establishment (continue to)
struggle to maintain order and to ensure the safety of the children detained there. It suggested
that the ‘staggering levels of the use of force by staff’’ were illustrative of the ongoing diffi culties.
In the nine month period prior to the inspection, force had been used 757 times and more
than 70 per cent of these episodes involved the highest level of restraint, requiring at least three
members of staff, one of whom would hold the child’s head.
Figures given by David Hanson, Minister for Justice, in answer to a parliamentary question
in April 2008, confi rmed that Oakhill also has signifi cantly higher levels of assault than similar
establishments. As indicated in Table 1, the number of assaults at Oakhill between April 2007
and January 2008 was almost twice that in Medway, the second most assault-prone STC.
By contrast, the highest number of assaults in any of the secure children’s homes (SCHs) (at
Clayfi elds), was below that in Hassockfi eld, the lowest within any STC.
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons noted that the culture change required at Oakhill, to bring
the centre up to the standards required by the Youth Justice Board, needed signifi cant time and
resources: staff were currently demoralized leading to an annual turnover rate of 59 per cent. A
realistic option, she argued, was to temporarily close the establishment for a short period of time
to allow a re-opening with ‘properly trained and reinvigorated staff, focussed on appropriate
levels of order and control’, a proposal rejected by the Youth Justice Board.
Report of an Announced Inspection of the Management, Care and Control of Young People at Oakhill Secure Training
Centre, by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, is available at: http://inspectorates.homeoffi ce.gov.uk/hmiprisons/
thematic-reports1/538181/
David Hanson’s answer is given at Hansard, House of Commons, Column 898W, 1 April 2008.
Joint Committee on Human Rights Critical of Government’s Record on
Restraint in Secure Training Centres
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), in a review of the use of
restraint in secure training centres (STCs), concluded that deliberate infl iction of pain,
Youth Justice News
173
Table 1. Assaults in secure training centres and secure children’s homes April 2007 – January 2008
Assaults by trainees
Assaults by
Total assaults
on trainees
trainees on staff
Secure training centres
Rainsbrook 96
172
268
Hassockfi eld
93
57
150
Oakhill
521
152
673
Medway
136
233
369
Secure children’s homes
Aldine House
5
4
9
Atkinson Unit
62
47
109
Aycliffe
12
2
14
Barton Moss
16
12
28
Clayfi elds
76
64
140
Eastmoor
31
12
43
Gladstone House
13
8
21
Hillside Secure Centre
12
0
12
Kyloe House
0
0
0
Lincolnshire SCH
43
65
108
Orchard Lodge
44
0
44
Red Bank
85
7
92
Sutton Place
2
8
10
Swanick Lodge
0
5
5
Vinney Green
64
34
98
through ‘distraction’ techniques, are a breach of children’s human rights and should not be
used. Although the Government told the Committee that it does not sanction violence against
children, the review considered that this was in fact...
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