Proposal to reopen Rainsbrook STC amid fears youth custody numbers will double by 2024
Joe Lepper
Thursday, April 28, 2022
The Ministry of Justice and the Prison and Probation Service have warned that the number of children in custody is expected to double by 2024, prompting ministers to consider reopening the controversial Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre (STC).
After a decline in the number of children being incarcerated over the last decade the figures are expected to increase markedly over the next two years, ministers and prison officials have warned.
Factors in the expected hike in numbers include the recruitment of 23,000 additional police officers as well as the clearing of court cases, which had been held up during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tougher sentencing through the government’s police, crime, sentencing and courts reform bill is also expected to lead to a spike in children in custody.
To meet the increase the government is considering reopening Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre, which was closed last year amid safety concerns.
Girls who had been held at Rainsbrook were moved to the all-boys Wetherby YOI in West Yorkshire last year, amid concerns from children’s rights campaigners that the young inmates at the STC were being placed in inappropriate accommodation.
The warning around the increase in youth custody numbers has been revealed in a National Audit Office report into STCs and secure schools.
The first secure school was due to open in 2020 on the site of Medway STC, which was also closed due to safety concerns. However, its launch has since been delayed until November 2023.
The NAO said that progress had stalled “because of assumptions made about timescales at the start of the project” and rising costs. The school’s original cost of £4.9m has since spiralled to £36.5m “due mainly to significant design revisions after due diligence”.
A lack of action to deal with safety concerns at STCs and delays to the opening of the first secure school “feels like a crisis in the making”, according to House of Commons public accounts committee chair Meg Hillier, Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch.
“Years of mismanagement and poor performance has meant the youth justice system risks failing many of the children who end up in custody,” she said.
“Persistent concerns over the STCs have not been heeded, and now their closures have led to vulnerable children being sent to other facilities which aren’t as suitable for their complex needs."
She added: “Children in custody are expected to double by 2024, yet new facilities are delayed and existing ones are failing to meet standards.
“Without proper support, the chances of these children to turn their lives around is distressingly slim.”
The public accounts committee is currently carrying out an inquiry into the future of STCs and secure schools and is seeking evidence by 23 May.
Reforms to #youthjustice were meant to replace #custodial provision inc the 3 existing secure training centres #STCs with #secureschools - @GOVUK @MoJGovUK committed to build the first in 2020, but it is delayed
— Public Accounts Committee (@CommonsPAC) April 26, 2022
Submit your views here ℹ✍🏽👇🏽by 23 Mayhttps://t.co/Mem6csLNka pic.twitter.com/zhgHksXm0t
The NAO's report details how the number of children in custody had fallen by 73 per cent between 2010/11 and 2020/21, from 2,040 to 560.
But it is expected that children aged between 15 and 17 in Youth Offender Institutions will rise from 343, as of July 2021, to 700 by July 2025.
Over representation of groups of children in custody is another concern raised by the NAO.
The proportion of children in the secure youth estate from ethnic minorities increased from 32 per cent in 2011 to 53 per cent in 2021.
Around one third of children in custody have a mental health disorder and incidents of self-harm have increased by 90 per cent between 2015 and 2021, the NAO’s report adds.