Vox Pop: Will joint inspections reduce the use of restraint in STCs?

YES
Tim Bateman, reader in youth justice, University of Bedfordshire

One of the areas I can see changing is a shift away from pain compliance restraint techniques, where the aim is to incapacitate the young offender through the use of pain.

This is something that is still common practice in secure training centres and my understanding of the joint inspectorate is that this area will be something they will be looking closely into.

There are forms of restraint that, provided the young offender doesn’t do anything silly, can effectively bring them under control without using techniques that use pain and I can see a shift more to the use of those techniques if these changes to the inspection process take place.



NO
Frances Crook, chief executive, Howard League for Penal Reform

I have argued how supine and ill-equipped Ofsted is to protect children in penal custody and I am glad the inspectorate has recognised the problem and is stepping in to reduce the scandalous amount of restraint on children in secure training centres.

But I fear the effect of this will be negligible at best. The safety and wellbeing of children in STCs will never be the priority for the multinational companies that run them. Making large sums of money for shareholders comes first.

We are skirting around the issue with these initiatives. The emphasis should be on positive relationships and this requires a complete culture shift. This takes time and is costly as it requires intensive staff training, which isn’t attractive to private prisons turning a fast buck on banging up children.



YES
Kirsten Anderson, legal research and policy manager, Coram Children’s Legal Centre

The proposed revised framework for joint inspections of STCs will likely result in a reduction in the use of physical restraint techniques on young people.

Despite a Court of Appeal ruling in 2008, which found that the use of restraint techniques in STCs for maintaining “good order and discipline” amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment and were therefore unlawful, the use of these forms of discipline is still widespread.

It is hoped that joint inspection teams, led by Ofsted, will ensure that inspections focus heavily on improving outcomes for young people, and on ensuring that the welfare of young people is safeguarded. This should include examining how behaviour is managed in STCs.



YES
David Tucker, head of policy, NSPCC

What is important is that the inspections get sufficient information and are sufficiently robust so they get to the bottom of the occasions where restraint was used.

If they identify that restraint is being used inappropriately in any setting, they must make sure there are measures put in place to prevent that from happening again. Physical restraint should only ever be used as a last resort to prevent danger to the person or to anybody else.

We are encouraged to see that there is going to be a greater focus on this to ensure that children who are kept in STCs get the best possible outcomes from their time in detention.