Prison for young offenders has always carried a heavy stench of controversy, and depending on your viewpoint it is either used too little or too much. With this in mind, it is not surprising that the Youth Justice Board's rejigging of its policy on types of custodial establishment (YPN, 28 January-3 February, p2) has sparked mixed reactions.
The fallout from the board's decision, for financial reasons, to buy fewer places in local authority-run secure children's homes in order to make greater use of cheaper secure training centres is already emerging.
Stamford House, a secure children's home in Hammersmith, west London, faces a bleak future. The board has decided to buy no more places at the facility and, as a consequence, the council is considering closing the unit.
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