Depriving children of liberty should be “genuine measure of last resort” used only in secure childcare establishments, report warns

Children’s rights and justice charities have called for a “permanent end” to child imprisonment, after finding a lack of basic safety and care for vulnerable children in youth custody settings.

The report, ‘Why child imprisonment is beyond reform: A review of the evidence’, recommended the government publish a national strategy for the “expedited closure of child prisons”, with a focus on using only childcare establishments when deprivation of liberty is “the only possible means of avoiding serious and immediate harm to the child or others”.

According to the report, there are currently five child prisons in England and Wales – four young offender institutions (YOIs) for children aged 15 years and over, and one secure training centre (STC) for children aged 12 to 17 years.

Only 19% of children in custody today are living in secure childcare establishments, with the remainder in prisons.

Authors warned that despite successive promises of transformation, children in prison continue to experience “significant harm and neglect”, and attempts to reform child imprisonment have “ultimately failed”.

The report pointed to evidence which suggests that outcomes for children leaving prison continue to be “extremely poor”.

For instance, in its 2022/23 survey of children in prisons, HM Inspectorate of Prisons found that just 37% of children thought that anyone in custody was helping them to prepare for their return to the community.

The children’s rights charities warned: “Children leave custody with little support and often with the same challenges and circumstances that existed on their admission; the prison regime is focused on behaviour management and containment rather than the child’s individual development and future life in the community.”

Further, the report found that children in prison today continue to be subjected to “pain-inducing techniques” when it is not an emergency measure.

Authors noted: “Annual statistics on the safety of children in prison were published in July 2024. These include the number of times pain-inducing techniques were used on children in 2023/24.

“[…] the statistics show there were 6 incidents where boys suffered a serious injury during the use of force in 2023/24, 51 incidents where boys and girls suffered a minor injury during use of force, and there were 153 MMPR [Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint] incidents in YOIs and 55 MMPR incidents in STCs where a child exhibited a ‘warning sign’ such as loss of consciousness.”

The report outlined the followingf five measures for government action:

1. affirm the removal of children from the prison estate, and the closure of child prisons.
2. establish a wide-ranging independent review of the circumstances in which children may be deprived of their liberty – through criminal justice, health and social care routes – as a means of making it a genuine measure of last resort, for the shortest period of time, and consistent with established national and international childcare standards and knowledge.
3. publish a national strategy with timetable for the expedited closure of child prisons, which focuses on supporting children and their families within their own communities and using only childcare establishments when deprivation of liberty is demonstrably the only possible means of avoiding serious and immediate harm to the child or others.
4. use the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill to introduce statutory provisions that restrict the criminal courts’ use of deprivation of liberty for children.
5. transfer ministerial and civil service responsibility for children deprived of their liberty through the criminal courts from the Ministry of Justice to the Department for Education. Completely move the Youth Custody Service out of HM Prisons and Probation Service, integrating it within teams responsible for SCHs [Secure Children's Homes] and other relevant children’s social care policy within the Department for Education.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We are categorical that custody should be the last resort for children, reserved for those charged with the most serious offences.

“Frontline staff are working tirelessly to drive improvements and reduce violence, and we are committed to increasing the support these children need to turn their lives around.”

Lottie Winson