Such is the passion surrounding the restraint of children in secure settings that the government's independent review, announced by justice minister David Hanson in July, should be grounds for optimism, in theory at least. Initial recommendations were due last week but have been delayed until 20 June after the review group found a "significant gap" in evidence for the use of restraint in secure children's homes.
However, the task of assuaging widespread misgivings will be a hard one. Discomfort with the very idea of the state sanctioning the use of force upon children within the secure estate shows little sign of abating. Campaigners and practitioners remain haunted by the deaths of 15-year-old Gareth Myatt, who choked to death under restraint in Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre in April 2004, and 14-year-old Adam Rickwood, who hanged himself by his shoelaces hours after being restrained in Hassockfield Secure Training Centre three months later.
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