Analysis

Fall in YOI staff linked to restraint increase

Former chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick calls for workforce improvements to tackle rising restraint use in the secure estate.
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
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

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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