Thirza Smith, manager of secure children's home Clayfields House, in Nottingham, believes her service helps save children's lives every day.
"We had a girl here who was trying to kill herself through strangulation," she recalls. "There were 48 incidents in one month where she had tied a ligature around her neck until her eyes went bloodshot and her nose bled."
But through a combination of bespoke mental health support and relationship-building with staff, such incidents stopped.
It is this kind of individual support that children in custody so desperately need, explains Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform. But the truth is, the majority are far less fortunate.
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