Young people 'reluctant to make custody complaints'

Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) Nigel Newcomen, found there is a widespread lack of trust in the internal complaints procedure in the secure estate among both young offenders and women prisoners.

Many felt that their grievance would either not be dealt with or would be tampered with by staff.

Instead many of those interviewed by the PPO for the research said they would often resolve complaints on their own by being disruptive, or challenging another prisoner they had a dispute with.

Among those that did lodge a complaint, very few appealed against the decision or took their grievance further.

Newcomen said: “As would be expected from the make-up of the prison population, the majority of complaints to my office come from adult male prisoners. However, the number we receive from women’s prisons, young offender institutions and secure training centres is even lower than would be expected from their proportions in the prison population.  

“This is not an exercise intended to drum up more business. Instead, it is intended to ensure that the low levels of complaints from these groups are for legitimate reasons and not because of inappropriate barriers to accessing our services.”

Among recommendations is for staff to deal with problems when they arise to avoid the need for a complaint.

Complaint forms need to be redesigned so they are easier for young offenders to use. And training among staff in understanding the internal complaint system needs to be in place.

Advocate services should be handed a greater role among young offenders to help lodge complaints.

In addition, YOI and STC management also need to monitor how complaints are dealt with including the quality and timeliness of responses.

Howard League for Penal Reform director of campaigns Andrew Neilson said: “This finding by the PPO comes as no surprise to us and indeed was one of the arguments the Howard League used to oppose cuts to prison legal aid funding for children in custody.

“We were told by the Ministry of Justice that the complaints system would be adequate but that simply isn’t the case. Even if young people were happy to use the system it is by definition retrospective and cannot address some of the more immediate concerns that we see arising in the child prisons.”

The PPO has previously criticised the findings of investigations into complaints by young people over their treatment in custody.