Hundreds of children allege abuse by prison staff in past three years, charity says

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Article 39, a children’s rights charity, uncovered 1,305 allegations of staff abuse against children in the secure youth residence in the past three years.

The findings emerged in a Freedom of Information Act request, regarding institutional abuse, sent to councils with a Secure Training Center (STC) or Juvenile Offender Institution (YOI) in their area.

In 2020-2021, there were 355 allegations, including one board that said it received 184 allegations against youth care staff.

Article 39 says that a board with a YOI did not provide any data for the past year, indicating that its numbers may underestimate the extent of abuse in juvenile prisons.

The Oskill Secure Training Center (STC) managed by GS4, in Milton Keynes, is one of the parameters affected by Article 39.

An urgent notification of improvement was sent to the STC in October after an inspection revealed “illegal” levels of force used against children.

Inspectors found that conditions in the center “barely met minimum standards of human decency” and “staff lacked the skills to safely perform restraint, while monitoring the use of force is inadequate ”.

Meanwhile, an inspection at Rainsbrook STC in Warwickshire earlier this year found bad practice that put children and staff at risk.

In June, the government ordered the removal of all children from Rainsbrook due to child safety concerns. Private supplier MTC was stripped of its contract to operate the facility earlier this month.

NEW: Our report on allegations against adults working with children in institutional settings was released today. This is the second time that we have collected data from local authorities in England. Children’s prisons continue to have the highest proportion of allegations: https://t.co/2chY2AX1TW

– Article 39 (@ article_39) December 15, 2021

Article 39 calls on the government to provide guidance to all institutional frameworks in order to better protect children.

These guidelines should also cover boarding schools and boarding schools, children’s homes, mental health inpatient units and immigration detention centers.

“Children in closed institutions often have limited or no contact with their family members, and it is essential that there is sufficient supervision of how they are treated,” said Kamena Dorling, policy officer and advocacy in section 39.

“Yet Section 39 research revealed that there is still no consistent process for local authorities to record and report data on allegations and results of institutional abuse and neglect.

“Without it, it is impossible to gather the vital local information needed on individual facilities to ensure the safety of the children who live there. ”

The charity’s research, based on data from 64 councils, found that there were 6,106 allegations against staff at children’s facilities between 2018 and 2021. That’s an average of 32 for each local authority. .

However, Article 39 found loopholes in much of the council’s data, including on unregulated care facilities and allegations of abuse in semi-independent and self-catering housing.

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