PENAL ISSUES
The Children's Safeguards Review
9.1 The Children's Safeguards Review's observations and conclusions reflect those of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Sir David Ramsbotham, whose Thematic Review of Young Prisoners was published on the same day. The Prison Service's response to the Thematic Review forms part of the far-reaching reforms of the youth justice system which the Government signalled in the White Paper No More Excuses, a new approach to tackling youth crime, and which the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 will substantially implement.
9.2 The Children's Safeguards Review concluded that "prison is no place for children" and highlighted eight specific issues on each of which action has already or is being taken. These were:
- the number of juveniles (15-17 year olds) in prison custody is high and rising and the Prison Service's policy on keeping juveniles in discrete accommodation is not being followed
- the incidence of sexual assaults is not clear and needs to be researched
- the strategies on tackling bullying and self-harm, which were regarded as being good, were inconsistently implemented and improved education and leisure were recommended
- the remanding of 15 and 16 year old boys to prison should stop
- the Department of Health and Welsh Office should consult the Local Government Association (and the WLGA) and the Prison Service about the support Social Services Departments provide to children in penal settings
- the principles of the Children Act 1989, in promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children, should be incorporated into penal system regulations and allegations of abuse or harm should be investigated as in other settings
- a National Director should be appointed for the young offender estate
- child protection measures should be established for the two mother and baby units in the two womenís prisons which do not already have them.
The Government Response
9.3 The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 makes radical changes to the way in which the youth justice system operates. In many respects the White Paper No More Excuses anticipated the Safeguards Review. Central to the changes are measures which will:
- place community-based inter-agency work to tackle youth offending on a statutory basis through the youth offending teams established by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998
- the establishment of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales with responsibilities to advise on and monitor standards for the care of sentenced and remanded children in all forms of juvenile secure accommodation, including Prison Service accommodation
- give the courts a range of new community based penalties to help prevent young people who offend from becoming serious, persistent offenders for whom custody may be the only option
- speed up the process of dealing with young offenders at court which should reduce the time spent by children on remand.
9.4 The Government is working to establish better arrangements for looking after juveniles in custody by:
- the creation of a distinct estate within the Prison Service for 15 to 17 year olds remanded or sentenced to custody, and by improving the care and regimes delivered within it
- the development of new regime standards for juveniles, which will pave the way for the new Detention and Training order which is expected to be implemented by mid 1999
- piloting improved juvenile regimes at Werrington and Huntercombe Young Offender Institutions, in the current year
- taking forward proposals to help achieve the separation of those sentenced and remanded as juveniles.
Keeping juveniles in discrete accommodation
9.5 The Prison Services policy is, so far as is practicable, to keep those aged under 18 separate from other young adults (18-20 year olds) and adults. Mixing in regime activities, with appropriate supervision, is permitted. The prison population is at an all-time high and the use of all accommodation has to be optimised. While some male juveniles on remand are held in adult prisons they are kept in separate accommodation from adults as far as possible. Un-convicted 15 and 16 year old girls are not held in prison but 17 year old girls held on remand (of whom there were only 16 on 31st March 1998) are.
9.6 Creating a
juvenile estate
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9.6 Plans are urgently being drawn up to hold all juveniles separately in dedicated accommodation with significantly enhanced regimes. In addition, plans are being developed for three units to hold juveniles sentenced under Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.
9.7 The Children's Safeguards Review questions whether the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is complied with. Article 37(c) requires that children are kept separate from adults unless it is in their best interest not to do so. The UK entered a Reservation to this Article allowing mixing where there is a lack of suitable accommodation or where it is deemed to be mutually beneficial. However, the urgent work that is in hand to provide a discrete juvenile estate will, when delivered, allow the Service to accord more closely with the Convention.
The incidence of sexual assaults
9.8 There were four recorded incidents of sexual assault in which juveniles were victims in the 12 months to 31 March 1998. The police investigated each incident and no prosecutions resulted. There were no recorded incidents of sexual assault on a juvenile in the previous 12 months. The Prison Service is looking at how research can best be carried out.
Strategies on tackling bullying and self-harm and improved education and leisure
9.9 A number of initiatives designed to prevent bullying and to deal with bullies operate. A project aimed specifically to reduce violence in young offender institutions is already working to co-ordinate the various measures designed to promote good behaviour and to tackle the bad. Nationally the number of assaults on juveniles relative to the size of the juvenile population and in real terms fell in 1996/7.
9.10 On self-harm, the Children's Safeguards Review commented that both the strategy and the commitment are impressive. Efforts are being made to sustain the work underpinning the strategy, and particularly the work on identifying and dealing with those with a potential for self-harm. Statistics on those aged under 21 suggest that things are improving: the number of incidents of self-harm has reduced by 36% while the population of those aged under 21 has increased by 12% over the period 1995/6 to 1996/7.
9.11 The key to tackling bullying and self-harm is the provision of full, active and purposeful regimes and high quality relationships between the young people and staff. Central to the latter is the culture of an establishment. Much effort is now being made to change the culture in those establishments which look after the juveniles by better staff training. The Prison Service provides training which was designed by the Trust for the Study of Adolescence for which formal accreditation is now being sought. The Prison Service also recognises the important role of education in regimes for juveniles and a key element of the new regime standards for juveniles will be education.
Health care in prisons
9.12 The Prison Services Directorate of Health Care and the Department of Health have conducted a joint review of the organisation and delivery of health care for prisons in England and Wales. Ministers have considered their proposals and a report on the way forward is expected by the end of the year.
Remanding of 15 and 16 year old boys to prison
9.13 The Government wishes to end the remand of 15 and 16 year olds to prison but there is insufficient secure accommodation to cope with all the 15 and 16 year olds on remand. It has not therefore been possible to implement the relevant provision in the Criminal Justice Act 1991. In order to make progress, the Government has now decided to implement court ordered remands to local authority secure accommodation in respect of 12-14 year olds and in respect of 15 and 16 year old girls as soon as is practicable. In addition, the courts are being given the power to remand the most vulnerable 15 and 16 year old boys direct to secure accommodation subject to certain criteria and if a place has been identified in advance. Provision to effect these changes is included in the Crime and Disorder Act. The greater flexibility for holding remanded 15 and 16 year old boys, combined with a discrete secure estate in prison service accommodation will help solve the main area of concern which is holding remanded juveniles in adult prisons.
9.14 The Prison Service is actively co-operating with the Children's Society's "Remand Rescue" initiative which now operates in three young offender institutions. In the longer term, the new requirement on local authorities to provide access to bail support schemes and improvements in the delivery of youth justice services locally through the setting up of youth offending teams should help to reduce the demand for custodial remands. The Government has also undertaken a review of the whole secure estate for remanded and sentenced juveniles with a view to achieving greater consistency in quality of provision and better central co-ordination and planning.
Social Services Departments' support to children in penal settings
9.15 The Prison Services Assistant Director (Young Offenders) is in consultation with colleagues from the Department of Health and representatives of the ADSS, the LGA and the ACOP about how the care of juveniles in prison establishments may best be co-ordinated.
9.16 One of the difficulties Social Services Departments encounter is that prison establishments do not hold only those domiciled in the locality. The problems of keeping juveniles in establishments at distance from court and at distance from home exacerbate the difficulties providers and families have in establishing and maintaining meaningful contact. The importance of good contacts between supervising authorities and prison establishments will be included in the new juvenile regime standards. The discussions referred to above and the new regime standards will build upon such initiatives as that in the Thames Valley in which a protocol on sharing information and training has been established between two young offender institutions, and local Departments of Social Services and Probation Services.
Incorporating the principles of the Children Act 1989 into penal settings and investigating allegations of abuse or harm
9.17 New regime
standards for under 18s in
prison custody
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9.17 The new regime for juveniles will reflect the principles and guidance underlying the Children Act and its regulations. To safeguard and promote the individuals welfare, to protect the public and to discharge the warrant of the court, the new regime standards will include:
- arrangements which establish and sustain a safe and secure environment which begin with a qualitatively different approach to the first night and initial days in custody
- rigorous induction to identify individual needs and aptitudes
- planning to matching of needs to purposeful regime provision based upon the 'what works' research
- review of plans
- pastoral arrangements which centre on the importance of providing a 'significant adult'
- focused and well-integrated preparations for release, including the appropriate involvement of the family
- all of which will be underpinned by an ethos which reflects the principles of structured, purposeful care achieved through better staff selection, training and management.
9.18 The Children's Safeguards Review also urges that allegations or incidents of harm involving a juvenile should be subject to the same investigation procedures as they would if they had occurred in a children's home or secure accommodation. Hull Prison has established and successfully run for 18 months arrangements whereby the Area Child Protection Committee investigates such incidents. The Prison Service is in discussion with the ACPO, ADSS, and the LGA about how such arrangements can be introduced in each establishment holding juveniles. The role of each prison establishment's independent Board of Visitors will underpin whatever arrangements are deemed most appropriate.
National Director
9.19 Creation of a
Directorate of Regimes
and an Assistant Director
for Young Offenders
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9.19 The Government has not been persuaded by the recommendation that a national director be appointed for the young offender estate. The appointment of the first Director of Regimes in the Prison Service, who is assisted by an Assistant Director with specific responsibilities for Prison Service policies on young offenders, will lead to a greater emphasis on specific provision within the Prison Service to meet the special needs of young offenders.
Child protection measures for mother and baby units
9.20 All the mother and baby units in womens prisons now have written child protection procedures in place.
Implementation, monitoring and enforcement
9.21 The following are the key milestones in the action plans which address the issues raised in the report:
- all areas should have in place a youth offending team(s) by April 2000. Pilots of the teams will begin in autumn 1998
- the Youth Justice Board will be operational from October 1998 and will have statutory responsibility to advise on the setting of standards for all forms of juvenile secure accommodation, including Prison Service accommodation, and monitor performance against those standards
- the courts' new community based penalties will be piloted from October 1998 and, subject to the outcome of pilots, implemented nationally in 2000/2001
- some new legislative measures to speed up the process of dealing with young offenders at court will be introduced in autumn 1998; others will be piloted with a view to implementation in summer 1999. A number of non-legislative measures, including fast track schemes are already in place
- the new more effective custodial sentence for juveniles, the Detention and Training Order (DTO), will be introduced in summer 1999.
9.22 The Prison Service is expecting to be able to deliver:
- three units with enhanced regimes for juveniles serving Section 53 sentences by April 2000
- enhanced regimes for juveniles in two YOIs in 1998/99
- new juvenile standards will have been determined by March 1999.
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9.23 Other planned actions include:
- publication of a report on the way forward on prison health care by the end of 1998
- develop arrangements in consultation with ADSS, LGA and ACOP on the co-ordination of care for juveniles in prison establishments
- develop arrangements for investigating allegations of harm involving juveniles in prison establishments.
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9.24 The Home Office will be monitoring delivery against the above milestones.
Outcomes
9.25 The Government expects these policies to help deliver:
- more children and young people held in dedicated juvenile accommodation
- fewer young people damaged by bullying and violence in prison establishments
- improved protection and health care for children in prison establishments
- proper investigations of all allegations or incidents of harm involving juveniles.
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