AYJ Comment: Government must act now to end the prolonged solitary confinement of children by closing YOIs

Today, 1st October 2024, HM Inspectorate of Prisons has published a progress review on the separation of children in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs), highlighting a shocking lack of improvement, with children continuing to be held in prolonged solitary confinement in a declining secure estate.

The report, which examines progress on recommendations made in a 2020 thematic inspection of children separated from their peers in YOIs, finds an absence of meaningful changes to the model or experiences of separated children, and “depressing” continued failures. In 2023/24, 479 children were separated, including 179 instances between 21 days and 100 days, and 21 children separated for over 100 days.

Many children were held in conditions amounting to solitary confinement, sometimes prolonged. Separated children continue to spend nearly all of their time locked in their cells, unable to access basics including exercise, and rarely receiving education or other interventions. In the worst cases,  children did not leave their cells the entire day. 

Planning to reintegrate children into the general YOI population was inadequate, safeguarding had “little impact” on children’s experiences, and there was inadequate oversight, including a lack of meaningful check-ins from managers.

Nearly two-thirds of children felt separation was used as a punishment, while in some cases children self-imposed separation because they were too scared to come out of their cells. The review finds that YOIs are dominated by violence and disorder, concluding: “In the absence of effective, motivational behaviour management schemes, the response to this conflict is to separate children.”

Highlighting ten years of sustained failures to improve outcomes for children in custody, Angus Jones, HMI Prisons Team Leader for Children and Young People is calling for the Youth Custody Service to end repeat diagnosis and piecemeal initiatives, and focus instead on action and investment in a new estate that can meet children’s needs.

Commenting on the report, AYJ Chief Executive Jess Mullen said:

“The solution to violent and volatile establishments is not to lock children up, punish, and propagate harm. You cannot fight fire with fire, and keeping vulnerable children in prolonged solitary confinement only exacerbates their trauma and creates a negative spiral of challenging behaviour and punitive action. Instead, children need more access to support, education, and interventions, cared for by well-trained child-centred staff able to de-escalate tensions and meet complex needs.

The new government has a critical opportunity to make a fresh start with youth custody, to finally put an end to the constant stream of damning reports on children’s tragic and extremely harmful experiences in the secure estate. Young Offender Institutions must be closed, and the Youth Custody Service’s forthcoming Children and Young People’s strategy must set out clear timelines for doing so, and for ensuring custody is a last resort.”