Dominic Casciani
Home Affairs Correspondent
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A safe center for children involved in crime has kept them almost isolated, despite being told to stop earlier.
Three watchdogs order ministers to take urgent action against Rainsbrook Safe Training Center
The boys and girls were locked in their rooms there for almost 24 hours a day, as a quarantine measure.
Ofsted, the HM Prison Inspectorate and the Commission for Quality of Care say the practice is unacceptable.
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland now has 28 days to respond.
Officials have confirmed that they intend to stop sending children to Rainsbrook while urgent action is being taken – and the center’s contractor, MTC, says it acknowledges the severity of the findings.
What is a secure training center?
Rainsbrook, Northamptonshire, is a secure training center run by a private contractor, MTC. He has some of the most vulnerable children in the criminal justice system – boys and girls convicted or awaiting trial for serious crimes, who usually also have complex behavioral problems or other vulnerabilities, such as self-harm.
The center is designed to accommodate up to 87 children safely and also to provide an education as close as possible to a school.
Concerns about the treatment of children inside the center became public earlier this month.
Inspectors discovered during a visit in October that 15-year-olds arriving at the center were incarcerated for a week in quarantine of coronavirus – and were only allowed to go out for half an hour a day.
The watchdogs then returned to the center earlier this month – and found that little had changed, despite their extremely critical report.
Again, they found children in prison almost isolated – and described the image as “gloomy”.
How were the children treated?
Five children had been imprisoned for substantial periods of time. A girl hadn’t had time out of the room in two days.
A boy was allowed to leave the room for only a total of four hours in 14 days.
There was no evidence that children received adequate education and there was little encouragement to get up in the morning or spend significant time with staff.
Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, said that even at the risk of Covid, children should have been allowed to go out for at least four and a half hours a day.
“Rainsbrook was warned that the treatment of newly admitted children was unacceptable, but these concerns were ignored,” she said. “Some of the most vulnerable children are imprisoned for days without thinking about their safety or well-being. Leaders and the government must act now to address this.”
And Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of HM prisons, said: “It’s amazing that despite our initial findings, the Youth Custody Service and the center have continued to allow children to be detained in solitary confinement, especially after he had been assured that it was no longer so. “
The three watchdogs have now issued an “urgent notification” – the first time they have used their legal power to order Justice Secretary Robert Buckland to return with an action plan to improve conditions in a JTS.
“We have decided to invoke the urgent notification process because of the continued poor care that children face, the lack of leadership control and the lack of supervision of practice by local and national leaders,” Ms Spielman said.
Since 2015, each joint inspection has considered that the center “needs improvement to be good”, with the effectiveness of leaders and managers being considered “inadequate” on two occasions. the being and safety of children. “
What did the MOJ know?
- The MOJ says its Youth Custody Service asked the TCM in August and September to consider allowing newcomers to “balloon” so they could spend more time together.
- In early October, YCS officials visited Rainsbrook and noticed that the bubbling plans were not yet in place.
- When independent watchdogs visited in October and criticized the closures, YCS ordered the center to change the way the children were quarantined – but in November there was a Covid outbreak.
- The Ministry of Justice has its own monitor inside the center, but it is not clear what was reported to officials and ministers regarding the duration of the blockades.
What was the answer?
Justice Minister Lucy Frazer said: “These findings are incredibly worrying and disappointing, especially as the TCM has given repeated assurances that they will act on previous warnings.
She said “additional and experienced” managers were being sent to the center. While MJ does not intend to send children to STC until there are improvements, it is the only center that has a specialized unit for mothers and teenage babies.
In a statement, MTC said it acknowledges the severity of the watchdog’s findings.
“Following Ofsted’s initial recommendations, we immediately installed new leadership and implemented measures to improve and strengthen governance and management oversight at the center.
“We recognize that more needs to be done to improve the center, and we accept that more should have been done during this difficult time.”