August 10, 2004: Howard League warning on children in prison

The Howard League for Penal Reform has written to Home Secretary David Blunkett, warning him that proposed new rules covering the 2,800 children in prisons will fail to protect them. The proposed rules allow for routine stripping including inspection of the genital area of children and the use of physical restraint that causes pain. They could languish for long hours alone in cells with little or no education and no exercise.

The rules which will be issued as a Prison Service Order (PSO) to governors, had to be re-written following a successful judicial review by the Howard League in 2002 which found the Home Secretary to be acting unlawfully for refusing to apply the protection of the Children Act to children in prisons. The PSO, which is due to come into force in September 2004, fails to mention the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child despite the fact that this places the UK government under an obligation to be guided by the best interests of the child relating to the care of children.

Howard League Director Frances Crook wrote to the Home Secretary setting out detailed concerns:

1.  There is no longer a special order for girls despite the fact that they have significant different needs to boys

2. The previous order specified a minimum of 10 hours out of cell, 6 of which had to be purposeful whereas the new order is vague and means children could spend many more hours locked alone in their cells

3. Provision for education is diluted so that in future it appears that children in prison will not be entitled to a minimum number of hours of education

4. The order is wrong in law when it claims that children on remand are not subject to the young offender institution rules. The Howard League for Penal Reform judicial review SP v SSHD made it clear that a child held in a young offender institutions had to be subject to YOI rules

5.  The proposed rules allow for routine strip-searching of children, which includes inspection of the genital area by adult staff, despite the fact that many children in prison have been sexually abused.

6. The proposed rules allow for pain compliant physical restraint, a system designed to control adults.

Frances Crook stated:

“The prison service construes the need for child protection almost entirely around historical abuse the children experienced prior to custody but excludes abuse they may suffer inside prison. The Howard League for Penal Reform research and case studies show that children experience physical abuse in prison when restrained, held in solitary confinement and forcibly stripped. A comprehensive child protection policy should also protect children from bullying and violence by other teenagers.”