Rainsbrook STC still subjecting children to ‘bleak’ isolation regime, inspectors find
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Leaders at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre (STC) are “failing children in their care”, inspectors have warned in a damning report amid concerns over the isolation of new arrivals at the facility.
HM Inspector of Prisons, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission carried out an unannounced monitoring visit at the site in Warwickshire after a previous inspection in October revealed children as young as 15 were being kept in cells for 23.5 hours per day for the first two weeks after arrival at the facility.
This practice had continued “despite assurances that this would be stopped, after the practice was highlighted by an assurance visit carried out on 26 to 29 October 2020”, the report states.
“Small bubble arrangements had been devised meaning that children could spend a minimum of 4.5 hours each day out of their bedrooms, and a further two 30-minute periods of fresh air. When inspectors spoke with children, they said that on admission to the centre they were being locked in their bedrooms for 23.5 hours each day,” it adds.
Managers disputed the evidence given by children, however, inspectors found it to be true, the report reveals. This led to inspectors issuing an urgent notice to improve with a letter sent to the Secretary of State for Justice highlighting the continued serious failings at the STC on 18 December.
Inspectors describe children’s daily experiences at Rainsbrook as “bleak”.
They found that four children told inspectors that on admission to the centre they were confined to their rooms for 23.5 hours each day for at least seven days and were offered 30 minutes of fresh air each day during this period.
Five children subject to the same regime during the week preceding the visit were found to have had no, or only very short, periods out of their locked bedrooms.
“There had been an increase in time out of bedrooms over the two days prior to the visit,” the report states.
It also highlights the case of one child who was placed on an “incorrect management plan” due to miscommunications about his medical vulnerabilities.
Between 26 November and 10 December 2020, this child had a total of four hours out of his room, the report states.
Another child was placed on a girls’ residential unit with others who were no longer isolating. Consequently, she was confined to her bedroom for almost 23.5 hours each day for six days, to prevent the risk of spreading Covid-19 to other children. For two days there was no record of this child having any time out of her room, and for the following three days she had a maximum of 40 minutes, inspectors found.
Senior managers were not aware of the regime newly-admitted children were living under, they added.
The report also details an outbreak of Covid-19 at the STC between the two inspections which led to 14 children being infected.
Inspectors found that 19 recommendations made following an inspection in February 2020 had not been acted upon.
“Restrictions concerning staff viewing children through shower viewing panels as a safeguarding measure are now sufficiently rigorous,” the report states, adding that “senior managers have updated an action plan regarding progress made on meeting the other 18 recommendations”.
Senior leaders at Rainsbrook have been urged to immediately cease the standard practice of locking children in their bedrooms 23.5 hours a day on admission to the centre.
Urgent arrangements must also be put in place to ensure that senior managers understand what is happening for children on a daily basis, inspectors have said, adding that “decisive action” must also be taken to address issues highlighted in February 2020.
Following the urgent notice to improve being issued, a Kent church threatened to take legal action against the Ministry of Justice unless the “solitary confinement” of children at Rainsbrook is stopped.
