Young people in custody matter too

So our revelation this week that restraint use in young offender institutions (YOIs) is up 25 per cent year-on-year is nothing short of devastating. Granted, its use in the more intensively supervised institutions - secure children's homes and secure training centres - is down, but that alone is nothing to crow about.

Restraint will be unavoidable in certain conflict situations in order to protect the young person and others around them. But the fact its use has risen so significantly in YOIs, which house the majority of young offenders, underscores just how badly the juvenile secure estate is failing young people and society at large. Nearly 80 per cent of young prisoners go on to reoffend within the first 12 months after their release.

The root of the problem is that the adult prison system model is imposed on children. Prison staff and governors are moved around from adult prisons to YOIs. The welfare of children in these institutions is not given enough attention because the prevailing culture inside is one of containment rather than rehabilitation.

The Youth Justice Board's Wiring Up Youth Justice programme should at least help to improve communication between different professionals about prisoners' circumstances and needs.

But in order to rehabilitate young offenders so that they are not a risk to society and do not end up back inside at considerable cost to the taxpayer, we need an overhaul of training and recruitment procedures in the youth prison system.

The vast majority of young offenders have mental health problems. One in three of them have been in care and many have been abused. Therefore, prison staff must possess an interest and experience in working with vulnerable young people. It is not enough to be motivated by security and public safety. Young people in YOIs also desperately need more access to social workers. The government abdicated responsibility in April for funding 25 social worker posts - a drop in the ocean of what's needed - and local authorities have since failed to step up to the plate to fund them.

The rising use of restraint in YOIs is symptomatic of our tacit acceptance that convicted young offenders are excluded from the ethos of Every Child Matters. That is a national disgrace.