London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Children are being kept in solitary confinement for more than three months in a “serious indictment” of Britain’s youth detention regime, the prisons watchdog has cautioned.
Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, expressed children were not even permitted to leave their cells on some days or declined to exercise or school for no more than a few minutes a day. Despite calling for a suspension of the practice four years ago, Mr Taylor expressed it was “depressing” to find there were still some 480 children who had been put in “separation”, away from their counterparts in youth offender institutions, on more than 1,000 occasions.
What are the conditions of solitary confinement for youths?
In 179 cases the young criminals, all aged under 18, were put in “separation” for between 21 days and 100 days. Some 21 children were isolated from their peers for more than 100 days. “It is a serious charge of the Youth Custody Service that children persist to be held in what amounts to solitary confinement, four years after we posted our thematic report,” stated Mr Taylor. “It is simply not acceptable that they are separated in the conditions we describe in this report, with the potential for long-term detrimental effects on their health, behaviour and learning.”
Why are children held in isolation for so long?
While some had been held in isolation because they were violent, others had decided to remain in their cells for fear of being attacked, expressed the inspectors. Throughout the past year, they said young offender institutions had been overwhelmed by high levels of violence and disorder.
“As a result, 479 children have been separated from their peers, either because they posed a risk to safety or elected to stay in their cells, mostly because they were concerned about being involved in violence or scared to venture out,” stated the inspectorate.
How can youth detention facilities improve education access?
“We discovered that many children continued to be subject to solitary confinement and incapable of accessing the basics, including exercise. Leaders were incapable of providing most separated children with adequate access to education and other interventions, which in some cases were limited to just a few minutes a day. In the worst cases, on some days, children did not leave their cell.”
The inspectors suggested that children who were separated should acquire the same statutory entitlement of 15 hours a week of education as those who were not. In one institution, 37 children had been isolated for a total of 453 days in one month, which indicated they received just 21 hours of education during this time, an average of fewer than three minutes per child each day. “Children’s time in custody should provide a vital opportunity to turn their lives around to give them the best chance of leading lives free of crime on release. Sadly, this review finds separated children continue to spend nearly all of their time locked in their cells,” stated Mr Taylor.