An inquiry into the treatment of children in custody by Lord Carlile ofBerriew QC received evidence alleging that some staff would "bait"children into situations that enabled them to use restraint "for theirown gratification". Carlile said that given recent revelations aboutchild abuse in care homes it would be surprising if some staff were notworking in custodial centres for dubious reasons.
But Colin Moses, national chairman of the Prison Officers' Associationand member of Carlile's panel of experts, said he was ashamed to beassociated with the report. He said to compare prison officers withchild abusers was "disgraceful and untrue".
Frances Crook, director of The Howard League for Penal Reform, said:"The only way to prevent these incidents is empower children to makecomplaints." And Rod Morgan, chair of the Youth Justice Board, said: "Ifthese allegations are true it would be completely unacceptable." Morganadded that the Youth Justice Board had appointed independent childadvocates in every institution, as well as additional social workers, toempower children to make complaints.
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