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Proportion of children who feel unsafe in youth custody doubles

2 mins read Youth Justice
Prison inspectors have raised concerns about a doubling in the proportion of children in young offender institutions (YOI) and secure training centres (STC) who feel unsafe.
Black young adults are more likely to receive longer custodial sentences than their white peers. Picture: AdobeStock
Black young adults are more likely to receive longer custodial sentences than their white peers. Picture: AdobeStock - Adobe Stock

Over the last year nearly one in six children said they felt unsafe in secure settings, more than twice the proportion the previous year when one in 14 children were concerned about their safety.

Nine in 10 report being victimised by other children and just under three quarters said they had been targeted in this way by staff.

Half said they have been physically assaulted and nearly a quarter said they had been forced to assault other young people.

The survey's findings have been revealed by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, which concludes that those who feel unsafe “experienced far worse outcomes in almost every aspect of daily life” while incarcerated.

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