A further 15 per cent of children in custody are held more than 100 miles from home due to the small number of secure settings now in use, writes Angus Jones, the inspectorate’s team leader for children and young people, in a blog to mark International Day of Families (15 May).
“This means their families, who are often on low incomes or have other children to look after, find it difficult to visit,” the blog states.
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It adds that issues identified by the inspectorate during its investigation into the impact of distance from home on children in custody in 2016 have been “exacerbated” since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Every 25 miles further that a child was held from home was associated with one less visit from a family member or friend. Regular phone calls are meant to mitigate this, but the cost is incredibly high for those living in young offender institutions (YOIs) (around £1.40 for a 20 minute conversation) substantially limiting many children’s ability to call their family,” writes Jones.
He notes that since the pandemic, the number of visitor slots, particularly those on weekends and evenings, have been reduced, meaning “at most sites it is now impossible for a child on remand to receive their full entitlement of three visits a week”.
Jones calls for more to be done to support children in custody to stay in touch with friends and relatives.
“There is a coherent argument that the failure to enable children to maintain their family relationships is concerning because of the implications for future reoffending. More important for me though is that for many children I meet in prison, their family is all they have, and it should be much easier for them to stay in touch,” Jones says.
The blog comes weeks after a report by the children’s commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, found that young offenders believe custody is “too risky” for their families to visit, and say they are not being offered “any meaningful alternative” to stay in contact with their relatives.
