T2A believes that the management of young adults in custody requires urgent reform, but does not agree with last year's Ministry of Justice proposals that the correct response would be to scrap distinct provision for young adults.
Three-quarters of deaths of 18- to 24-year-olds occur in adult prisons, which suggests that simply mixing young adults within the general prison estate would exacerbate the problems that exist. Rather, young offender institutions should be reconfigured to be well-resourced, smaller, dedicated institutions.
Recently, following the successful reduction in numbers in the youth estate (from a peak of 4,000 children in custody five years ago to just more than 1,000 now), it has also been suggested by a range of organisations and individuals that serious consideration should be given to the devolution of these institutions to the control of the Youth Justice Board and local authorities.
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