![Nick Hardwick: “We need to see people equipped with skills to navigate complex and hostile situations, who want to de-escalate [these] without the use of violence.” Picture: Nathan Clarke](/media/xp5jys3v/nick-hardwick-by-nathan-clarke.jpg?width=960&height=640&format=webp&quality=80&bgcolor=White&v=1da251f3d4b9b70)
Latest official figures show the use of restraint in youth custody is at a five-year high, while the number of full-time staff employed by the Youth Custody Service is at its lowest level for two years.
Campaigners have called the figures a “child protection scandal”, and now former chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick has warned that the trends in the two sets of figures could be linked.
A shortage of prison officers, long hours for those working in young offender institutions (YOI) and lack of training has combined with a rising group of young people with unmet complex needs to create the circumstances for rising restraint use, he says.
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