History sometimes provides answers that reduce the need for further investigations. I was managing a local authority secure children's home in 1993 when Home Secretary Michael Howard announced that there would be five new establishments built to replace the use of young offender institutions for under-18s. This was motivated by the public outcry at deaths within YOIs. These new establishments - secure training centres (STCs) - were to be akin to secure children's homes, but more cost-efficient (i.e. cheaper).
Delays meant the first one, Medway, was not opened until 1998, when the incarceration of children had increased to a level where the five new STCs would not have sufficient capacity. The incoming Labour administration made some effort to solve the problem by nominating specific YOIs to cater for younger prisoners.
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