The 2020 report by HMI Prisons found that “children were subject to widespread solitary confinement, spending more than 22 hours a day locked in their cells with no meaningful human contact or oversight”.
A review of progress on the failings, carried out by chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor, finds that 479 children have been separated from their peers in YOIs in 2023/24 in more than 1,000 separate incidents.
Currently, fewer than 400 children are housed in the youth custody system.
Of those who were subject to solitary confinement, 179 instances were between 21 days and 100 days long, while 21 children were separated from their peers for more than 100 days.
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