Youth jails under fire for not implementing reforms after deaths

Youth jails under fire for not implementing reforms after deaths

Youth jails yet to introduce new restraint system six years after deaths

Interim manual for staff at privately run institutions allows two 'distraction' methods involving use of pain

By Alan Travis Home Affairs editor Guardian

A new system of restraining troublesome children in privately run youth jails has still not come into effect six years after the deaths of two teenagers, the Ministry of Justice confirmed tonight.

The admission comes after the publication of an interim manual that still allowed staff to use two "distraction" techniques which rely on the use of pain. Two other restraint techniques involving the application of pain have already been banned.

The recommendation for a new system of managing behaviour, which emphasises the need for private security staff to use proper "de-escalation" techniques and avoid the use of restraint, arose from the inquests into the deaths of Gareth Myatt, aged 15, and Adam Rickwood, aged 14, in secure training centres in 2004.

An MoJ progress report published today on the implementation of the coroner's recommendations discloses that the new system of restraint is still undergoing "medical accreditation" and will not be introduced before 2011.

It comes as new Youth Justice Board figures show that 21 children sustained injuries while being restrained between June last year and this May at Hassockfield secure training centre near Consett, Co Durham, where Adam Rickwood died.

The YJB figures show that restraint was used 543 times on children at Hassockfield between April 2008 and March 2009. The unit holds 58 teenagers described as some of the most damaged and difficult young people in the country.

The new behaviour management system for use in the secure training centres, which hold 300 teenage offenders aged 12 to 17, is known as conflict resolution training. It is designed to put an emphasis on de-escalating conflict and training for staff on managing difficult behaviour without the need to resort to restraint. A set of techniques known as therapeutic crisis intervention has also been piloted at Hassockfield.

Katy Swaine of the Children's Rights Alliance for England said she hoped the new system will lead to a significant improvement in the government's record for caring for vulnerable children in custody.

"However, it is long overdue and we remain deeply disappointed by the government's refusal to abandon state-sanctioned deliberately painful restraint techniques on children, which are not permitted in other childcare settings," said Swaine.

She said that it was also unacceptable that ministers continued to resist calls for a public inquiry into the use of unlawful restraint practices in child prisons between 2004 and 2008 despite an appeal court ruling more than two years ago.

The two restraint techniques that rely on the application of pain authorised in the 2010 MoJ manual are the rib distraction and the thumb distraction. They are supposed only be used in potentially volatile or violent situations where the safety of young people, staff or others is at risk.

A separate personal protection manual also authorises the use of violent "breakaway" techniques when staff are being attacked. The manual says that the full techniques should not be practised in training for fear of injuring staff.

The Ministry of Justice said restraint was only ever used as a last resort when young people's behaviour put themselves or others at serious risk, usually involving life-threatening situations.

"The independent review of restraint concluded that pain-compliant techniques were necessary, in exceptional circumstances ... to manage incidents that put young people or staff at serious risk." It added that techniques were never used as a punishment.