CYP Now - Majority of children in custody have been in care, report finds

Two-thirds of children in custody have been in local authority care, a new report finds, prompting calls for an improvement in relationships between children and staff to create a “stable environment” for young people.

Charlie Taylor: 'For many, prison may therefore be the most stable environment they have known'. Picture: HMI Prisons

In June this year, there were 434 young people, including 18-year-olds, in secure training centres (STC) and young offender institutions (YOI across England and Wales, down from 939 in 2016.

However, the report from HMI Prisons warns that progress made around the treatment of children in the youth custody estate after the Covid-19 pandemic has “stalled” with “things getting worse” in key areas including levels of violence in settings and trust between children and staff.

The report highlights that 66 per cent of young people in the youth custody estate have experienced local authority care, however, less than half of all children reported feeling cared for by staff, and nearly a third “did not have a single member of staff they trusted to help them if they had a problem”.

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