BASW response to government proposals to accommodate juvenile offenders in mass secure units

The government is in the process confirming its controversial plans to accommodate juvenile offenders in large-scale secure colleges.

Opponents to these plans have raised their concerns that such institutions will mix approximately 16 girls and 13 younger boys, aged between 12 and 17, alongside 291 older boys.

The proposals have dismayed prison reform groups. The Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prison Reform Trust claim these colleges pose “serious and unprecedented safeguarding risks”.

BASW is very concerned about that these proposals, especially as these colleges will ‘warehouse’ some of the most vulnerable young children within our society.

Commenting further on these proposals, BASW England Manager Maris Stratulis said:

“The idea of 'warehousing' vulnerable young people in supersized institutions is an antiquated and long discredited one. The scale of these colleges will make them inherently dangerous. Evidence from secure facilities clearly indicates children are known to react with far greater volatility than adult residents and such settings often grossly exacerbate the long-term damage already present within their lives.

“The fracturing of the family unit is a further factor being conveniently ignored. The catchment area required to fill an institution of this size will cover both England and Wales making it impossible for many of the incarcerated children to maintain their family ties. Add this to the dismay and anger experienced by a vulnerable child serving a short-term custodial sentence (usually less than 90 days), and there is no possible way that this can lead to the effective educational improvements being heralded by the government.

“A further factor and one that causes grave concern is the proposal to mix young people in terms of their gender and age span. Between 2012-13 only five percent of the children held within secure facilities were girls. Therefore accommodating this tiny, vulnerable group within a male institutional setting of this nature – that is entirely unsuited to meeting their needs – is unacceptable.

“These latest proposals feel very much like the clock is being turned back and clearly smack of resourcing trumping the needs and rights of young people. We urgently call upon the government to rethink its strategy.”