An inspection between 4 and 20 April revealed that a quarter of the 77 boys held at the Kent YOI were forced to stay in cells for as many as 23.5 hours per day, including two for more than 100 days, as a means of managing conflict between children.
Records, seen by inspectors, showed that it was “not unusual” for boys to stay in their cells “for days on end”, with no meaningful human interaction, education or other intervention.
At the time of the inspection, 90 per cent of children were subject to “keep apart” protocol, meaning they were not allowed to mix with some of their peers, and staff were managing 583 individual conflicts.
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