Kids locked in cells for more than 22 hours a day amid prisons staff crisis
2 min read
A staffing crisis in youth prisons is leaving too many children locked in cells when they should be in education or training, a damning watchdog report has said.
Too many young boys were confined to their cells for more than 22 hours each day in young offender institutions, according to the Chief Inspector of Prisons.
At one prison almost 50% of boys were locked up during key periods of the day when they should have been in education or training, while at another the figure was 40%.
Campaigners fumed: “If we treated animals like this it would be a national scandal.”
Prisons watchdog Peter Clarke said the “impact of staffing constraints appears to have been more keenly felt by children this year”.
He said in secure training centres - another type of institution - staff were being moved from their assigned units to cover gaps elsewhere.
Frances Crook, the chief executive of campaign group the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the inspector's annual report “presents an appalling picture”.
“Boys hardly ever see daylight, have a very poor diet, get little or no help with their problems, and even getting a shower is a challenge,” she added.
“If we treated animals like this, it would be a national scandal.”
Meanwhile the proportion of boys who said they could have a shower every day fell to 71% from 88% in 2015/16.
And the proportion of those who said they could use the phone every day fell from 80% to 68%.
Elsewhere, the report revealed almost half of kids in secure training units were from black or minority ethnic backgrounds.
Last year the Government launched a desperate drive to recruit some 2,500 prison officers to plug staffing gaps.
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