Children should not be kept in prison

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/25/children-should-not-be-kept-in-prison

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Nearly eight years ago, the judge presiding over the inquest into the restraint death of 15-year-old Gareth Myatt in Rainsbrook secure training centre in 2004 wrote to the then justice secretary, Jack Straw. He gave 34 detailed recommendations for, among other things, improving oversight of the prison. Yet it would appear from its media statement that the Youth Justice Board only found out about the eight cases of serious staff misconduct, with at least six sackings, after being contacted by Ofsted earlier this year (Six sacked from G4S centre slated by Ofsted, 21 May).

The YJB is in charge of the government contract with G4S; it has its own monitor on the premises. Presumably it did not know a child with a fracture (possibly caused by restraint) had been denied medical treatment for 15 hours? That 15 children had been injured during restraint in a six-month period and the company had failed to pass on key information to government officials monitoring restraint, or that nurses are not present when children are restrained? These were just two of the safeguards instituted after Gareth’s death. Did the YJB not know of the managerial delays in protecting children, or that staff had witnessed “gross misconduct”, but not blown the whistle? What about the 174 written complaints and 111 “grumbles” (the G4S process for “low-level issues”), from children in 2014?

Irrespective of how much the YJB did or didn’t know, three inspectorates have jointly rated as inadequate the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children. So will the YJB now terminate G4S’s contract to run Rainsbrook? Yet again the evidence tells us prison is no place for children.Carolyne Willow Director, Article 39Deborah Coles Co-director, Inquest

• Who could fail to be horrified by the damning report into Rainsbrook STC -, the very facility that in 2004 saw the tragic death during restraint of 15-year-old Gareth Myatt? My son Joseph Scholes, aged 16 when he died, is one of 33 children who have died in UK prisons since 1990. Following his death I have received support from Inquest and others in calling for a public Inquiry. In light of this report, and of Savile, Hillsborough, Medomsley and the ongoing investigations into alleged Westminster wrongdoings, I believe I am justified in again asking exactly who in Westminster would want to block an inquiry into historic and ongoing child abuse in prisons and why?

Prison report after report, inadequate review upon review, inquest after inquest all identifying the same abuses and failures over and over. Ditto the same robotic, meaningless responses from the authorities: “every death is a tragedy” and “lessons will be learned”, though clearly the latter is untrue. This national scandal is not lessening nor, contrary to ministers’ wishes, is the irrefutable evidence going to go away. As a nation, through a public inquiry, we must acknowledge that the crime of child abuse is not lessened by its occurrence behind bars nor through the passage of time. The time for the abolition of child prisons is long overdue, no child in 2015 Britain should call prison home. Meanwhile, as politicians avoid accountability and G4S rakes in profits, children suffer. Yvonne Bailey Mother of Joseph Scholes