Restraint on the rise in young offender institutions and secure training centres

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 9 February 2023

Use of force against children in young offender institutions and secure training centres is up by nearly a third on a year ago, new government statistics reveal.

In the year ending March 2022 there were increases in all custodial behaviour management measures:

• rates of separation increased by 56 per cent to around 1,700 incidents per 100 children or young people
• assaults where children were assailants or caught up in fights increased by 25 per cent to around 400 incidents per 100
• self-harm went up from 29 per cent to 290 incidents per 100
• restrictive physical interventions rose by 17 per cent to around 770 incidents per 100.

Use of force data in the annual Youth Justice Statistics is only available for secure training centres and young offender institutions, not secure children's homes. But across these establishments there were 4,300 use of force incidents, an average 358 a month.

There was a monthly average rate of 80 use of force incidents per 100 children, an increase of 27 per cent on the previous year and the second highest rate since the first implementation of Managing and Minimising Physical Restraint (MMPR) in 2013.

The inverted wrist hold, which children’s rights campaigners argue is pain-inducing and should be subject to more controls, was used 264 times a month last year, in 2,857 separate deliberate inflictions of pain.

Figures were highest at:

• Oakhill STC (986 total incidents)
• Wetherby YOI (951 incidents)
• Rainsbrook STC (262 incidents)

There were 44 injuries resulting from restraint requiring medical treatment, four of which required hospital, compared to 34 and seven respectively the previous year. Warning signs such as breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness or vomiting were observed on 176 occasions.

• Girls were involved in five times more use of force incidents, at 412 per 100 children compared to 78 for boys
• Use of force was higher for Black children at 102 per 100 children, compared to 71 for white children
• Nearly a third (30 per cent) of use of force incidents involved a child with a disability
• More than half (58 per cent) of incidents lasted 0-2 minutes and 32 per cent lasted three to five minutes
• Handcuffs were used 612 times, in 14 per cent of cases
• The most common reason given for use of force was 'preventing harm to a third party' (75 per cent) and preventing harm to self (13 per cent)

Children’s right campaign group Article 39 expressed concern at the figures, pointing out that the government has accepted the recommendations of a review into pain-inducing restraint, established after legal action was taken.

In a tweet, Article 39 stated: “They conceded that the 'inverted wrist hold' equalled officers deliberately inflicting severe pain on children.”

The campaign group argues that the inverted wrist hold should be officially classed as a pain-inducing technique since children report feeling severe pain when it is applied. But to date, it is still categorised as ‘high level’ rather than ‘pain-inducing’ and is therefore not subject to the same scrutiny.

Youth Justice Statistics authors point out that rises in behavioural management measures "are likely due to a return to normal regimes compared with the previous years during periods of Covid-19 restrictions".

The report covers 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, with data drawn from the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Youth Custody Service, Youth Justice Services, and various institutions.

The Annual Youth Justice Statistics can be found here (detailed data is in the supplementary tables).