Today the Prisons Inspectorate and Youth Justice Board publish a report on young people’s experiences of prison, drawn from Inspectorate surveys over the last two years.
Children and young people in custody 2006-2008 [2Mb PDF; opens in new window] shows that, as in previous years, many young people were marginalised and excluded before they came to prison: one in three had been in care and the great majority had been excluded from school.
A high and increased proportion of young men were engaged in education and skills training: 81% said they were in education, and over half that they were learning a skill. Nearly all the young women said that they were involved in education, and six out of ten also said they were learning a skill.
Young women were held in small discrete units and significantly fewer said that they felt unsafe, even though many were depressed or anxious on arrival.
More worryingly:
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a third of young men had felt unsafe, a quarter said they had been victimised by other young people, and only four out of ten thought staff would take this seriously if they reported it
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ease of contact with family and friends had deteriorated both for young men and young women since the last report: only a third said that it was easy for their families to visit, and in some establishments this figure was as low as a quarter (for young men) or 13% (for young women)
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as in the last report, a quarter of young men and a fifth of young women said that they had been physically restrained, and this varied considerably between establishments of the same type
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exercise and association remained significant deficits for young men, though gym take-up remained relatively high
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the disproportion of black and minority ethnic young people in custody had worsened: 29% of young men and 23% of young women were from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. Black and minority ethnic young men (but not young women) continued to have worse perceptions of custody than their white counterparts, though differentials had narrowed.
Dame Anne Owers, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons said:
"The results of this set of surveys show, in general, a steady improvement in young people’s experience of the custodial environment.
"However, there are some key messages. First, there is considerable variation in young people’s experiences and opportunities between different establishments. Sometimes this is a feature of size and design. It remains troubling that overall so many young people have felt unsafe, or have been restrained.
"Second, the experience of black and minority ethnic young men remains significantly more negative than those of their white counterparts, though the picture is changing.
"Third, and most importantly, the experience of custody is only a part of these young lives, and it must be of concern that links with families and, for young men, with support services outside prison, seem to have loosened. Perhaps the most depressing gap is between the nine out of ten sentenced young people who do not want to offend again, and the much smaller number – half of young men and a third of young women – who believe that their time in custody will help them not to do so."
Frances Done, chair of the Youth Justice Board, said:
"The YJB commissioned this bi-annual report to get young people’s views of their time in custody. We welcome the findings and they will now be used to inform our strategies for driving further improvements across the YOI estate in the coming year. Many of the issues raised in the report link to areas which are already a focus for the YJB and in which we aim to make young people’s custodial experience more effective and positive.
"Over the last few years, we have made significant changes to the YOI estate for young men and women and are pleased that some of these are recognised in the findings. However, we acknowledge that there is still much more to be done.
"Within the last year, we have made progress in increasing the numbers of young people held in dedicated sites, with 71% of spaces now being in single sites. We continue to work towards the aims of the Secure Estate Strategy, which aims to achieve a dedicated estate for young people, with a staff group specifically trained to work with this age group.
"We recognise the issues around the Resettlement agenda, and this is a key priority for the YJB. We are currently exploring options to improve links between custody and community services, with pilots planned in London, the North West and the South West.
"Safeguarding young people is at the heart of all the work undertaken by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, and the findings of this report around safeguarding and restraint will be fed into our ongoing work, to improve the experience of young people in both these areas."
Notes to editors
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This is the fourth report published by HMI Prisons which collates and analyses the experience and perceptions of the 2,500 15 to 18 year olds held in prisons.
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Inspectorate reports and releases are available at http://inspectorates.justice.gov.uk/hmiprisons [opens in new window].
© Crown copyright material reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland
