But while there is little doubt conditions for young offenders have improved, as the great and the good sip their champagne, they should reflect that the system is by no means perfect.
It is only 10 days since 19-year-old remand prisoner Phillip Rustell at Reading Young Offenders' Institution in Berkshire and 18-year-old James Skelly at Portland Young Offenders' Institution in Dorset were both found hanged in their single cells.
That's the same Portland institution where seven former young offenders recently received a total of 120,000 in compensation after complaining that they had been viciously assaulted by segregation block wardens.
The ageing institution was criticised in 1999 by the then chief inspector of prisons for its "militaristic" regime. So while the relationship between officers and prisoners has dramatically improved, the Portland incident echoes a past where some custodial institutions for young people were brutal places.
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