Tuesday, 17 June 2014

Use of force at secure college 'against human rights'

11 June 2014 Last updated at 10:09
Youth offender
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Plans to allow staff at a new "secure college" to use force to ensure discipline must be watered down, a committee of MPs has said.

The use of force would breach young offenders' human rights, they say.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling unveiled detailed plans for the £85m facility in Leicestershire, to open in 2017, this week.

The unit, the first of its kind in England and Wales, will house up to 320 offenders aged 12 to 17.
It is meant to be a move away from the "traditional environment of bars on windows" and focus instead on education.

Young offenders are currently sent to either a secure training centre or a young offender institution, depending on their age and offences.

'Last resort'
  They spend an average of 12 hours a week in education while in detention. The new college, which will mostly house people from the East Midlands and East of England, will double that.

Parliament's joint committee on human rights said proposals in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to allow authorised staff to use "reasonable force where necessary to ensure good order and discipline" was a clear breach of international standards.

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Young offenders
  • 95% are boys
  • 89% are aged between 15 and 17
  • 4% are aged 10-14
  • 71% reoffend within a year of leaving custody
  • 46% of adults leaving prison reoffend
  • Secure children's homes: 166 places
  • Secure training centres: 301 beds
  • Young offender institutions: 1,311 beds
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"The bill should be amended to make explicit that secure college rules can only authorise the use of reasonable force on children as a last resort; only for the purposes of preventing harm to the child or others; and that only the minimum force necessary should be used," the committee said.

A Court of Appeal ruling had made it clear "that it is incompatible with Articles 3 and 8 ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] for any law, whether primary or secondary legislation, to authorise the use of force on children and young people for the purposes of good order and discipline", they said.

Pornography law
  The committee accused the Ministry of Justice of failing to take into account the rights afforded children under a number of international agreements to which the UK is a signatory, despite earlier agreeing that it would do this.

It also found that ministers had failed to provide sufficient "clear and transparent justifications" for the proposed imposition in the bill of increased sentences for some terror offences.

But it welcomed the plans to use the legislation to outlaw the possession of pornography showing rape.
There were approximately 1,300 people in youth custody at the end of 2013.

Ministers hope that secure colleges will be vastly cheaper than the current four secure training centres (STCs), which it wants to close.

It costs almost £250m annually to detain young offenders, with each place in an STC costing an average of £178,000.

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More Reasons not to adopt the Grayling torture plan.

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Friday, 13 June 2014

Chris Grayling blasted over plans for 'Victorian-style' corporal punishment on young offenders
















Chris Green 
Senior Reporter
Wednesday 11 June 2014
Chris Grayling’s plans to allow force to be used on children at new “secure colleges” for young offenders are illegal and must be changed immediately, an influential parliamentary committee warns today.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights said proposals in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to allow authorised staff to use “reasonable force where necessary to ensure good order and discipline” was a clear breach of international standards.

Earlier this week the Justice Secretary unveiled detailed plans for an £85 million secure young offender unit in Leicestershire, which will hold up to 320 inmates between the ages of 12 and 17. He said it would put “education at the heart of custody” and would move away from the traditional approach of “bars on windows” when it opens in 2017.

But staff would be subject to the same rules laid out in the Bill, prompting Labour to urging ministers to scrap the “Victorian-style” proposals. MP John McDonnell has compared the proposed Leicestershire facility with the notorious private jail HMP Oakwood in Staffordshire, claiming it would become an “Oakwood for children” and lead to riots and assaults.

In a report published today, the cross-party committee said the idea that officials could use physical force on children to keep order in young offender institutions was unacceptable under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

“In our view, it is clear… that it is incompatible with Articles 3 and 8 ECHR for any law, whether primary or secondary legislation, to authorise the use of force on children and young people for the purposes of good order and discipline,” the report said.

An artist's impression of how the £85 million facility will look  

An artist's impression of how the £85 million facility will look
Committee chair Hywel Francis said the MPs were “disappointed” that the Government did not appear to have examined international standards on the rights of children before publishing its Bill.

“Perhaps as a result there are a number of issues relating to secure colleges in particular that need examination and amendment, including making clear that force cannot be used on children to secure ‘good order and discipline’,” he added.

Last night campaign groups welcomed the committee’s report and called on the Government to redraw the Bill so it did not sanction the use of force on children.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “MPs have recognised that allowing prison officers to restrain children violently, simply if they don’t follow orders, is illegal and will put lives at risk.

“It is symptomatic of the kind of institution that ministers are proposing – not a college with education at its heart, but a giant prison where human rights are infringed and physical violence becomes part of the rules.”

Paola Uccellari, director of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, added: “Allowing prison officers to use force to make children behave themselves is dangerous and carries a risk of injury. The Government is putting children’s lives at risk by pushing ahead with its unlawful plans. It must listen to parliamentarians and remove these powers to use force from the Bill.”

In its report, the committee separately welcomed the Government’s clampdown on extreme pornography, including the criminalising of the possession of images depicting rape. It said the measure was “human rights-enhancing” due to the “cultural harm” that such material could do.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The development of a Secure College is a pioneering approach to tackling the reoffending rates of young people, putting education at the heart of custody. This will give them a far better chance of getting out of the criminal justice system, and will mean much better value for money than just continuing to lock up the same young people time and again.

“We are clear that restraint should only be used against young people as a last resort where it is absolutely necessary to do so and where no other form of intervention is possible or appropriate.

“Significant improvements have been made to restraint practice in youth custody in recent years , including the introduction of a new independently assessed system of restraint. It is those improvements that we will build on as we develop our proposals for Secure Colleges.

“We will consider the recommendations made by the committee.”

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And shortly after this approach is tried you get Medomsley

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Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Seeking Professional Help


It may be that you decide that you need to engage the services of a professional who can help you come to terms with your abuse and support you as you move to find resolution in whatever form that means for you. However it is very important that you hold out for the best quality therapy or counseling possible – this is important and intrinsic to your sense of self and future well-being and it needs to be handled in the best way possible for you, in the safest and most effective way.

Here are some basic tips on how best to find someone to offer support and help.
Firstly YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE!!!!
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Friday, 23 May 2014

MEDOSLEY DETENTION CENTRE

 Update: Victims 690 + 


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Friday, 16 May 2014

MSP calls for public inquiry into historical child abuse

http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/scotland-27227618

MSP calls for public inquiry into historical child abuse

MSP calls for public inquiry into historical child abuse
30 April 2014 Last updated at 18:41

Scottish Labour MSP Graeme Pearson asked the Scottish government to consider holding a public inquiry into historical child abuse, during a member's debate on 30 April 2014.

The member for South of Scotland said that the survivors of abuse deserved action and that "we have a responsibility to answer clearly and simply the demands of survivors."

Mr Pearson added: "If there is to be no response akin to a Northern Ireland public inquiry will the minister explain why?

Will the government reconsider their decision now?" Community Safety and Legal Affairs Minister Roseanna Cunningham replied that the issue was a very complicated one and "some victims expressly didn't want a public inquiry".

Ms Cunningham also said: "Concerns around the issue of an inquiry included it might take a very long time, the outcomes might not offer tangible support, that it might be expensive, and that it would have the potential for conflict and further trauma."

The minister, however, accepted that such an inquiry could be held in the future should it be deemed to be the best way forward.
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Survivors songs Written Ray Poar.

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The government's plans to lock up girls with their babies



Frances Crook: "A prison within a prison, for children with children."
Frances Crook: "A prison within a prison, for children with children."

 
By Frances Crook
Before this week there were only two details that we knew about the Ministry of Justice plans for a 'secure college' – that it would be the biggest child prison in the country and that staff would be able to restrain children for 'good order and discipline'. Beyond the semantics, this means that officers could use physical force to get children to do what they’re told, a practice found to be illegal in the past.

One of the most controversial aspects of the proposals is to incarcerate girls and boys together: only five per cent of children behind bars are girls. We know that girls in the criminal justice system have disproportionately horrific backgrounds of rape, sexual abuse, domestic violence and exploitation. This is why the only people who think it is a good idea to dump a few damaged girls into a super-sized prison dominated by boys are in the government.

In response to concerted questioning on the safety of this scheme, the prisons minister, Jeremy Wright, attempted to reassure the House of Commons during a debate on the proposals this week. And that is how we learnt the third detail of the secure college:  the ‘complex needs’ of these girls would be acknowledged by creating a mother and baby unit.  A prison within a prison, for children with children.

Aside from being fundamentally inhumane, this is a bizarre response to meeting girls' underlying needs and an admission that the Ministry of Justice doesn’t know how to keep them safe.

When you have big institutions, the girls are at risk of sexual assault and exploitation. More subtly than this, it is not just about the levels of violence – sexual, or otherwise – it is that girls cannot flourish because there are so few of them and the institution is designed by men for men. It was only a few years ago that girls were removed from G4S Oakhill secure training centre because of the levels of violence: girls have never been incarcerated there since.

This will be a prison with perhaps 20 girls and 300 boys, supervised by very few poorly-trained staff.  Is the plan for a mother and baby unit an admission of despair? The horrific stories of sexual abuse of children in Medomsley where more than 600 boys appear to have been the victims of sexual abuse by staff are only just emerging. Who will take responsibility in decades to come when we find that the Titan prison was a centre of sexual abuse and violence?

If the government really wants to transform youth custody, it needs to look at what works to keep children safe. First and foremost, this is where children will live. It is a home. The evidence shows that small intensively-staffed environments holding not more than 10 children, keep children safe and address their behaviour.  In such a well-resourced environment, and with a balanced ratio between girls and boys, then it can be possible to mix the genders in a safe way.  Secure children’s homes already provide this for the handful of children who require custody: we do not need to reinvent the wheel, we should invest money into what is already working.

Yet the government is ploughing on with its Titan mistake and still intends to gamble children’s lives and more than £80 million of taxpayers' money. The Ministry of Justice has blocked Howard League research into sex behind bars, which covers consensual and coercive sex in prisons as well as child sexual development. It is all too easy to turn a blind eye to the realities and risks of prison.

But if a girl becomes pregnant in the secure college, then the government has planned for that. There’ll be a specially adapted cell for her and her baby.

Frances Crook is chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, the oldest penal reform charity in the United Kingdom.

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