In a letter to the director general of HM Prison Service, the PrisonOfficers Association attacked the "current liberal policy of treatingconvicted juvenile prisoners as children", which it says is leading toyoung prisoners "rampaging precariously out of control" and battle-wearystaff.
However, children's professionals have condemned the letter as "totallyinappropriate".
Steve Gough, national vice chairman of the association, accused theprison service of "pandering and nurturing radical dangerous ideologies"that were tying his members' hands.
He told Children Now: "The interpretation of the Children Act 1989 iswrong. We need to be able to punish young people. Prisons areinstitutions and fall into chaos without rules. But as things stand, youcan't enforce them."
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