Restraint sackable offence says YJB
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The chief executive of the Youth Justice Board (YJB) has told MPs that anyone who uses physical restraint to punish young people in secure training centres should be sacked.
Ellie Roy told MPs and peers on the Joint Committee on Human Rights that if she was incharge of a centre it would bea "sackable offence" to use restraint in this way.
Her views were backed by youth justice minister David Hanson: "I would be taking a very dim view if any contractor was found to be using restraint for this purpose."
The committee is looking into restraint because of legal changes introduced to clarify how the practice is used. Prison reform groups have argued that the changes, which allow restraint to be used to ensure good order and discipline, confuse the situation.
Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "Our worry about the change is that it is so vague that it isn't clear to employees.
"The YJB says restraint should only be used as a last resort, but the figures for 2006 show it was used in more than 3,000 incidences. We expected more from the YJB on this."
Hanson also said he has established a cross-departmental group to look at how restraint is used, which will hold its first meeting in November.
