All juvenile offenders will have 24-hour access to independent support and advice from next April under Youth Justice Board plans to give young prisoners a stronger voice and greater support.
The board agreed to create an advocacy service in its 2003-2006 corporate plan. It is now seeking organisations to run the advice services.
Service providers will have to make regular visits to the prisons and be able to arrange a visit within 24 hours of a referral or request from an inmate.
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, welcomed the move, but added: "It's difficult to understand why the Government has taken so long to give young people in prison a voice when it has made it such a priority to give young people outside prison a say in the running of things."
