By Carolyne Willow, the national coordinator of the Children's Rights Alliance for England (THE GUARDIAN, 16/03/06):
What would have to happen to children in UK jails before we say "enough is enough"? A year after 15-year-old Gareth Myatt died after being restrained in Rainsbrook secure training centre, a 16-year-old girl told me of having red marks on her cheeks and bloodshot eyes during restraint - early signs of asphyxia. A 14-year-old boy said he still had neck-ache two weeks after being restrained. I was told of noses being broken after "nose distraction" - one of three techniques designed by the prison service for use on children as young as 12 in the secure training centres.
As a member of an inquiry team into child custody, I was able to interview children in private in two of the country's four privately run, purpose-built secure training centres. After the year-long investigation led by Lord Carlile QC, a damning report into the use of restraint, segregation and strip-searching in child custody has now been published and was debated in the Lords on Tuesday.
The Youth Justice Board has devised special forms for recording the use of restraint and distractions. Which is most dehumanising: being the subject of such premeditated violence; carrying out the violence; or being the official whose job it is to process the information from these forms? Ministers and the YJB say painful restraint is used only rarely, when children are being extremely violent. Yet during 2004-05, restraint was used 768 times, resulting in 51 injuries. That is an average of four times a week for every establishment.
I sat in the cell of one child who sobbed as she recalled being verbally abused by a member of staff during restraint. She felt under constant threat: "I feel like I have to be good every minute." Another girl told me that during restraint, "Some of the staff get abusive towards you, like saying 'shut the fuck up' and 'you're making a prat of yourself, you little shit'." Children told me of having their rooms stripped bare and the contents thrown into the corridor. This happens for backchat as well as threatened violence.
Strip-searching is routine in secure training centres. Every child is searched whenever they leave or enter the building. In one centre, I was told that girls have to strip bare from the waist up and hold out their arms. Many girls in custody will have experienced sexual abuse in the past, yet strip-searching is universally applied. Every child I interviewed said they were extremely embarrassed during their first strip search. A 17-year-old said he felt "degraded". I was told that girls are required during strip-searching to hand over their knickers and sanitary pads for inspection. One girl was handed back her blood-soaked sanitary towel to wear afterwards.
Children are being deprived of fresh air and sunlight. One girl said that those on an "activity ban" are stopped from going outside.
Recent comments by the chair of the YJB, Rod Morgan, about children's "chaotic and difficult family backgrounds" could be read as "these children deserve much of what they get". The board's role is to "work to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour". Don't its members feel some sense of responsibility for what is being done to children?
Much of what I heard is known to the authorities, or should be, given the constant CCTV and paper recording that goes on. Ministers and the board should stop trying to find excuses for these human-rights abuses, and take action to ensure children's safety and wellbeing.