Children in Custody 2016–17: An analysis of 12–18-year-olds’ perceptions of their experiences in secure training centres and young offender institutions

This report sets out what children surveyed in secure training centres (STCs) and young offender institutions (YOIs) during 2016–17 told us about their experiences of custody. It is based solely on children’s self-reported perceptions and experiences and therefore may differ from administrative data held by STCs and YOIs and data reported by the Youth Justice Board (YJB).

Since 2001, a team of researchers from HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) has conducted surveys of children (aged 15 to 18) held in each YOI. The objective of the survey is to understand children’s perspectives on their treatment and conditions in custody, as part of the evidence base used by HMIP and the YJB. As well as being published in this annual report, the data collected are used during inspections, where they are triangulated with inspectors’ observations, discussions with the children themselves and the staff working with them, and documentation held in the establishment, to inform overall inspection judgements and recommendations. Each YOI holding children has been surveyed annually since April 2008 and these surveys now form part of the annual unannounced inspections of each YOI. This is the twelfth annual report to detail survey responses from children in the YOI estate.

In 2012–13, HMIP, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) began jointly inspecting STCs; each centre is inspected annually on an unannounced basis. A survey was developed by HMIP in collaboration with Ofsted and CQC and in consultation with children and staff in STCs, as well as the YJB, to ensure that children are able to comment on their treatment and the conditions in custody. As part of the inspection process, children are surveyed about their experiences of the establishment. The survey findings are considered in conjunction with other evidence and form part of the evidence base for each inspection report, feeding into the overall judgements and recommendations.