A Ministry of Justice policy directive to governors states “staff are not permitted to use restraint techniques which deliberately cause pain”, adding “it is never acceptable to deliberately cause pain when a non-painful alternative can safely achieve the same objective”.
But the directive adds that “there may be instances where they are responding to an incident where the life of a child or someone is at threat or there is risk that they will suffer a significant or life changing injury and the common law principle of using an intervention which is reasonable, necessary and proportionate with the intended outcome will apply”.
When such techniques are used, secure settings must report this to the Youth Custody Service “and staff members who were involved will be expected to be fully accountable for the action taken”.
Incidents also need to be reviewed internally as well as referred for an independent review “if that is available”.
When used in young offender institutions (YOIs) and secure training centres (STCs) incidents must be reviewed by an independent restraint review panel.
The policy directive is effective as of February next year and also looks to minimise pain and trauma caused by all use of restraint, particularly on young people with disabilities, sensory sensitivities, or experience of abuse.
This is “to ensure that they are not retraumatised or inadvertently experience pain as a result of the physical restraint techniques which are used”.
It also states that “restraint that deliberately inflicts pain cannot be proportionate and should never be used on children in children’s homes”.
The use of handcuffs on children is also restricted and “should only be used as an aid to restraint or as a risk reductions measure where it is the last resort”.
Government action on pain-inducing techniques takes place almost two decades after 14-year-old Adam Rickwood took his own life while at Hassockfield STC in County Durham after being restrained by officers.
Before his death the teenager wrote to his solicitor to describe how staff had jumped on him, put his arms behind his back and hit him on the nose using a pain-inducing technique known as "nose distraction".
An inquest found that unlawful use of force by officers had contributed to his death.
While nose distraction techniques were banned several years after Adam’s death other methods of pain-inducing restraint are still used in youth secure settings and will now be covered by the latest ban.
These are causing pain to the area below a child’s ear, to the thumb and wrist, and were used in 1,258 incidents in 2022.
“Despite a catalogue of serious harms suffered by highly vulnerable children, successive governments have refused to bring an end to this abusive treatment,” said Carolyne Willow, director of children’s rights campaign group Article 39.
“Had ministers and the prison establishment listened properly to children nearly twenty years ago and drawn a line in the sand after Adam’s preventable death, this policy change would not have dragged on to 2024.
“We will continue to closely monitor and hold government and institutions to account, since this is an area of policy replete with broken promises and catastrophic child protection failures.”
