Blogs

"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."