After the death of 15-year-old Gareth Myatt at a secure training centrein 2004, the Howard League for Penal Reform asked the Liberal Democratpeer to investigate the wider picture. Last week, Carlile, better knownfor his review of terrorism legislation, made 45 recommendations.
"We've proposed some fairly fundamental changes to Government policy,including moving responsibility for all of this to the children'sminister," he says. "The fundamental difference would be child-centredrather than criminal justice-centred policy. If you look at the needs ofthis group, many have had their childhood disrupted badly. They haveeducational and emotional needs and these are child issues." And Carlileadmits he was shocked at some of the practices he witnessed.
Official statistics suggest one in three girls and one in 20 boys incustody have experienced sexual abuse.
One 16-year-old girl told the inquiry that during a recent strip-searchher sanitary pad, which was "full of blood", was examined in front ofher. The girl was not given a clean pad afterwards.
"I'm very concerned about strip-searching. My view is that it is almosta never, never; that intrusive strip-searching only needs to happen onthe rarest occasions," says Carlile. Indeed, the inquiry says searchescould be more than halved by applying a more evidence-based approach,without risk to security or safety being significantly increased. Itrecommends that the stripping of children during searches should end andthat searches should be based on good practice used in local authoritysecure children's homes.
The inquiry raised serious concerns about the use of restraint and foundit was compounding young people's experience of abuse. Information aboutthe extent of injury caused by restraint was "patchy" and parliamentarysources provided the inquiry with conflicting evidence. But there wasclear evidence of a range of injuries, including broken wrists, carpetburns, bruising and swelling.
"If physical restraint is used when it is not strictly necessary, that'san assault," says Carlile. As such, an incident of restraint should beseen as such a serious breakdown that it should be reported andscrutinised by an independent agency, says his report.
"There are mechanisms available through local child protectionarrangements, and the children's commissioners in each part of the UKcould make a useful contribution to discussions on how this can bedone," says Carlile.
His inquiry also found evidence of a local child protection committeenot acting upon referrals made about injuries inflicted duringrestraint.
It's why he recommends that such committees should give priority toreferrals from penal institutions.
Segregation is also a concern. "The use of segregation should be very,very rare. Some of the facilities we saw were Edwardian andunacceptable," says Carlile. As such he recommends that solitaryconfinement should never be used as a punishment and that "time out", auseful technique for easing tension, should never be used for more thana few minutes.
Finally, Carlile found no facilities for outdoor exercise in theinstitutions he visited. "The lack of exercise and daylight would seemto contribute to depression and conflict," he says.
This catalogue of abuse is why Carlile believes child protectiontraining for all staff working with children in custody is "essential".He adds: "There should be a greater input of training so they understandchild protection law and their obligations to children. They need tounderstand the limitations on what they can legitimately do."
BACKGROUND - Some of the inquiry recommendations
- Responsibility for children in custody should rest with the children'sminister
- Local authority child protection committees should give priority toreferrals from penal institutions
- Mechanical restraints like handcuffs should never be used
- The police and Crown Prosecution Service should be more willing toconsider charging and prosecuting staff who assault children
- Stripping children during searches should end
- Prison segregation units should not be used for children
- www.howardleague.org.
