Category: Young people
Dr Laura Janes KC (Hon) appointed PRT fellow
PRT comment: Ombudsman report into historic abuse at Medomsley detention centre
Blog: Lessons learned from the creation of the Youth Justice Board
“Oh, brother, where art thou?”
PRT comment: HMIP annual report on children’s experiences in custody
Commenting on HM Inspectorate of Prisons annual report on children’s experiences in custody, Peter Dawson, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“This damning report describes conditions for imprisoned children that predate the pandemic. It shows a third of children not able to shower once a day. Most of these teenagers couldn’t even play sport once a week. More than two out of every five had been bullied. And in a system where over half come from an ethnic minority, the colour of your skin led to an even worse experience across almost every aspect of daily life inside.
But despite these shameful facts, the government has published a white paper which will reverse the steady decline in the number of children we imprison, and which accepts that its proposals will have a disproportionate impact on children of colour. Parliament should refuse to countenance such an appalling prospect.”
PRT comment: HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ thematic report on outcomes for young adult prisoners
Commenting on the findings of today’s (20 January) thematic report on outcomes for young adult prisoners by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said:
“The government is in a complete muddle about how to deal with young people who commit serious crime. On the one hand, it is determined to sentence even more young people—disproportionately young black men—to ever longer periods in prison. But then it fails utterly to make provision which might do anything to allow them to escape the situation which their lack of maturity has created in the first place.
“This is what comes from an overcrowded, under-resourced prison system. Governments are quick to legislate for harsher punishments. But they then condemn these young people at a critical moment in their lives to a system which is dominated by the pressure of simply finding enough spaces for people to be locked up. Strategic planning for the prison estate and for what goes on inside it is repeatedly blown out of the water by political expedience.
“There is no excuse for the situation the Chief Inspector describes. Far from protecting the public through imprisonment, the government is storing up a worse problem for the future. Young and disproportionately black young people are being denied a fair chance of building a decent future and growing out of crime.”
PRT comment: Urgent notification at HMYOI Feltham A
Commenting on the urgent notification issued by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons at HMYOI Feltham A, Peter Dawson, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“This distressing report stands in stark contrast both to previous evidence of some improvement at Feltham and to a very positive report issued only last week about a larger but otherwise similar Young Offender Institution in the north of England. This huge discrepancy in the quality of care demands the urgent attention of a new Justice Secretary, and the Chief Inspector is right to insist upon that. He helpfully points to the core issue – a need to address the causes of violence and escape the cycle of reacting endlessly to it.”
Times letter opposing knife crime prevention orders
The Prison Reform Trust and the Standing Committee for Youth Justice, along with a coalition of organisations working with children and young people in the criminal justice system, have written a letter published in today’s Times opposing the government’s proposed knife crime prevention orders. A copy of the letter and a list of signatures is below.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence has also criticised the proposals, in an article in the Times which also highlights today’s letter.
The bill is being debated in the House of Lords today. The Prison Reform Trust and the Standing Committee for Youth Justice have published a briefing for Peers urging them to oppose the new orders and highlighting other key amendments.
Letter published in the Times (6 February 2019)
Sir, As organisations working with children and young people in the criminal justice system, we urge Parliamentarians to oppose the government’s flawed and disproportionate knife crime prevention orders. The proposed orders, which are due to be debated in the House of Lords today (Wednesday 6 February), are a back door to custody. If it is suspected, not certain, that they have carried a knife twice in two years, children as young as twelve can be given an order lasting up to two years. The order can stipulate where they go, when they have to be indoors and what they can look at and say on social media. Breaching that civil order could see them getting a prison sentence of up to two years.
The Government says it has listened, and got the message that prevention is what will help most. But there is no evidence that orders like these prevent harmful behaviour, or address the root causes of knife carrying. Children and young people carry knives for complex reasons, including fear for their own safety. Effective prevention means dealing with that complexity, and investing in organisations and programmes rooted in the communities that are suffering the most. Reaching yet again for the easy but ineffective punitive option lets down the very people the government says it wants to help.
Pippa Goodfellow, Director, Standing Committee for Youth Justice
Peter Dawson, Director, Prison Reform Trust
Helen Schofield, Acting Chief Executive, Probation Institute
Andy Peaden, Chair, Association of Youth Offending Team Managers
Frances Crook, Chief Executive, Howard League for Penal Reform
Jacob Tas, Chief Executive, Nacro
Tariq Desai, Lawyer Criminal Justice, Justice
Matt Hussey, Public Affairs Manager, The Children’s Society
Baillie Aaron, Founder and CEO, Spark Inside
Amira Asantewa, Director of Communities, Grit
Bob Ashford, Founder, Wipetheslateclean
Jonathan Black, Chair, London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association
Phil Bowen, Director, Centre for Justice Innovation
Nina Champion, Director, Criminal Justice Alliance
Rohati Chapman, Interim CEO, Khulisa
Caimin Collins, Chief Executive Officer, MAC-UK
Darren Coyne, Projects and Development Worker, The Care Leavers Association
Kathy Evans, Chief Executive, Children England
Jamie Gill, Partnership Director, 1625 Independent People
Anne-Marie Day, Researcher and Lecturer, University of Bedfordshire
Nicky Hill, Interim CEO, StreetDoctors
Ben Kernighan, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Leap Confronting Conflict
Ross Little, Chair, National Association for Youth Justice
Ian McCaul, Chief Executive Officer, Chiltern Way Academy Trust
Mary O’Shaughnessy, Consultant
Kate Paradine, CEO, Women in Prison
Enver Solomon, Chief Executive Officer, Just for Kids Law
Christopher Stacey, Co-director, Unlock
John Tenconi, Chair, Michael Sieff Foundation
George Turner, Manager, Carney’s Community Centre
Bill Waddington, Chair, Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association
Caroline Liggins, Associate, Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors
Andrea Coomber, Director, Justice
Offensive Weapons Bill—Second Reading
The House of Commons will begin to formally scrutinise the Offensive Weapons Bill this Wednesday (27 June) as it holds its second reading debate.
In preparation, the Prison Reform Trust has produced a short briefing for MPs, highlighting concerns about the proposals to introduce new and modified existing offences, as well as the expansion of mandatory sentences.
There is understandable public concern about the recent spate of acid attacks and rise in knife crime in some inner-city areas. But experience suggests that solutions are most likely to lie in better regulation and control of supply and increased investment in preventative measures, including early intervention, education, trauma-informed and public health responses.
Click here to download a copy of the briefing.
