Oasis Restore must be fresh start for children

Putting to one side for a moment what Oasis has achieved in the fields of housing for 16- to 24-year-olds, healthcare and education, there is the not inconsiderable matter of his record in the London Marathon. Anyone who can run, or run/walk, for more than 26 miles is a heroine or hero to me. Steve’s record is of an altogether more impressive order. Three times since 2005 he has held the Guinness World Record for the most sponsorship money ever raised by an individual, topping out at £2.32m in 2011; some achievement.

It is fitting then that someone like Steve, along with his team at Oasis, should be taking on the challenge of changing the course of custody for children. His project, Oasis Restore, will open in 2021 in Rochester. It will be the first pilot for the new model of secure schools that the government plans should eventually replace the prison-like young offender institutions (YOI) and secure training centres (STC). The title, “Oasis Restore”, holds promise of something different; no mention of “institution”, “centre”, or “offender”.

When the plan to create secure schools was first announced it was met with an understandable degree of cynicism. Those with long memories compared the language being used with that when STCs were first invented. I shared the concern of many over key details like the location – on the site of the former STC in Medway – and the size – at up to 70 children surely too large to provide the tailored care needed?

These problems still need resolution, and the detail of what a secure school will be in practice needs to be hammered out and then tested in reality. However, the most recent round of Prison Inspectorate reports highlight the desperate need to try different models.

Let’s be clear: Our YOIs and STCs are not run by bad people. There are only very rare exceptions to this. But for a number of reasons these models are not working. The fact that the Youth Custody Service’s own safeguarding action plan has more than 110 recommendations for change tells us something.

Attending a meeting of the Standing Committee for Youth Justice in January, Steve Chalke and Clare Wilson, the project lead for Oasis Restore, made a strong start in convincing the doubters. Of course, everything is theory at the moment. At the heart of their presentation was their open acknowledgement of what is not working in the current YOI and STC models.

As a friend of mine, a prominent campaigner on this subject, cautiously observed “Steve and Clare were great advocates for the abolition of child imprisonment”.

It falls to all of us in the justice world to link arms with Oasis Restore and make this new model work. Critical friends have never been more needed.

• John Drew is former chief executive of the Youth Justice Board