Daily roundup 18 April: Solitary confinement, selfies, and data breach

Leading doctors have called on the government to abolish the solitary confinement of children and young people in the youth justice system, warning that it can have a "profound" impact on their health. The Independent reports that nearly 40 per cent of boys in British jails are estimated to have spent time in solitary confinement, which is defined under international human rights law as "the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact". Three major medical organisations have recommended that the practice should be abolished.


Almost one in three reported child abuse images are now taken by the children themselves, new figures from the Internet Watch Foundation show. The Telegraph reports that children are increasingly filming or photographing themselves in explicit situations and sharing the footage, which then ends up on adult pornography sites or shared by paedophiles, the foundation's annual report found. The report shows that there were 78,589 confirmed child sexual abuse URLs found in 2017, up from 57,335 in 2016.


Excluded children and their parents should be protected by a "bill of rights" which would give them better scrutiny of schools' decisions, special educational needs experts have said. The Independent reports that the idea was first proposed by the chair of the education select committee Robert Halfon, amid concerns about rising school exclusions. The proposal is now being backed by organisations from the sector.


Council bosses have apologised after accidentally sending the personal details of hundreds of Leicester children to strangers. The Leicester Mercury reports that a printing error caused a data breach as officials at Leicester Council were writing to parents who had applied for junior school places starting in the autumn. Parents received letters on Monday informing them of where their children would be going to school but 405 of the letters were printed double sided meaning families received not only the details relating to their child but those of another pupil too.


Labour MP Anna Turley has called on government to implement a wholesale ban on the sale of energy drinks to those under the age of 16. The Telegraph reports that Turley called for action after being inspired by Jamie Oliver's campaign on the issue. She said energy drink producers need to "take a long hard look" at themselves.