AYJ Comment: Children in Custody 2023-24: We must not let another year pass characterised by shocking, but no longer surprising, reports.
This week [13th November 2024] HM Inspectorate of Prisons published its annual report on children’s perceptions of custody for 2023-24, alongside an independent review of progress at Feltham A Young Offender Institution (YOI). The inspectorate conclusion that children are “being failed in establishments dominated by violence, disorder and lack of education” is yet another damning indictment in a string of concerning reports. But we must not become resigned to this failure; this harm to children is not inevitable. The government has an opportunity to put a stop to this cycle, and it must be ambitious about doing so.
This week’s reports highlight children’s declining feelings of safety, with establishments locked in a “vicious cycle” of increasing violence and disorder, leading to children spending even more less time out of their cells, fuelling further frustration and more conflict. No YOIs are providing adequate education, there are ongoing staff shortages, and the staff that are there are scared and have low morale. Children report spending the vast majority of their time locked up, with little done to work on their behaviour.
The findings are deeply concerning, yet entirely unsurprising. The government must not let another year go by where inspectorate reports that should each be as shocking as the last have come to be expected.
The last government committed to closing YOIs and Secure Training Centres (STC), but we have yet to see the same commitment from this government. These inspectorate reports continue to prove that YOIs are beyond reform, and now more than ever a clear vision for the future estate is needed. The new government must set out a plan now for closing YOIs and the last remaining STC, creating a shared, long-term goal to put an end to the drift and decline.
Urgent action must also be taken to ensure sending a child to custody is a last resort, for the shortest possible time. The government is currently undertaking a Sentencing Review aiming to end the crisis in adult prisons. While the youth justice system is not experiencing the same prison capacity issues, there are still grave concerns for children being sentenced. A separate, children-centred look at the children's system is needed, which embeds relevant learnings from the adult review, but is ambitious in meeting the distinct needs of children caught up in the justice system.
International comparisons will reportedly be “front and centre” of the adult Sentencing Review. The government is right to look abroad, and must do the same for children. For example, the UK is one of only two countries in Europe to hold children criminally responsible from age 10. The majority of European countries have minimum ages of criminal responsibility of 14 or higher, while the UK is still sending children aged 10-14 to custody. The UK is the only country in Western Europe to sentence children to life in prison. The number of children given life sentences over the last twenty years has increased, and children are being sentenced to longer minimum terms. It is likely that many of these children are being sentenced under joint enterprise, meaning they are imprisoned for long stretches, their lives forever impacted, for a crime they didn’t commit - an injustice we hope a new Westminster Commission will instigate action on. There are also many lessons to be learnt from more welfare-based models for depriving children of their liberty seen abroad.
Last week the Ministry of Justice announced an independent review of the placement of girls in the children’s secure estate. Girls in custody are without exception extremely vulnerable, yet since 2021 have been held in a YOI, the establishment least able to meet their needs. The inspectorate reports published this week highlight the harm of this yet again: staff set out their worries for girls in their care, raising concerns the YOI isn’t suitable and is being used as a “dumping ground”. The arrangement was supposed to be temporary and cannot be allowed to continue. The review must conclude as such and provide for the immediate removal of girls from YOIs.
We welcome that the Youth Custody Service is developing a long-overdue strategy for the children’s estate, and we have been working with our members and decision-makers across 2024 to set out what the strategy must cover. We are clear that the strategy can only be a success if it is predicated on a commitment to closing YOIs and the last remaining STC, and the government reforming legislation to ensure custody for children is a genuine last resort.