CYP Now - Blogs (23)

"The news that parliament will have a veto on sending girls and younger boys to the new secure colleges is to be welcomed, but this comes hard on the heels of the revelation that Feltham Young Offenders Unit, one of the sites for the proposed new secure colleges, is considering drafting in police officers to deal with gang-related violence. I'm still struggling to understand the rationale. Do the powers-that-be believe the police will have more authority than their prison officers? For incarcerated young people, I can't really see what difference it can possibly make. Perhaps on the contrary, bringing in the police may antagonise already tense relationships as well as undermining the role of staff. We know that nine out of 10 prisoners have a mental health condition, one in four have been in the care system and many have suffered both physical and sexual abuse. Do we honestly believe that prison is the right place for all of them? Bringing in the police will be an attempt to put a plaster on a gaping wound, to be reactive rather than proactive, to fail to tackle the underlying and complex reasons for offending."

Linda Jack on policing YOIs

"The plans for a school for LGBTQ young people in Manchester are disturbing in many ways. Free schools - state-financed but self-governed and outside of local authority influence - were a key part of the Govian reforms. There have been very mixed experiences to date, with some not opening because parents simply did not send their children to the school, and others being forcibly closed following negative inspections. Others seem to have very odd curricula, and it is just not clear to the outside observer that the lack of checks and balances, other than Ofsted, lead to any sort of stable institution. Then, the notion of a free school serving mostly LGBTQ young people and also straight young people begs several questions. I'm sorry, but I just can't support segregated provision. We all need to work together, including with charities such as LGBT Youth North West, to ensure schools and colleges are genuinely inclusive and support all children as they grow up. After all, we are, all of us, in a minority of one - everyone else is different in large or small ways."

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