YOUNG OFFENDER INSTITUTIONS SECURE TRAINING CENTRES EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT RESETTLEMENT

Custody

It describes:

• what the secure estate is

• our role within it

• what custody is like forchildren and youngpeople

• what we think aboutcustody

• the improvements we aremaking

• monitoring performance

• life after custody

• how we want to see thesecure estate develop inthe future.

This brochure is anintroduction to thework of the YJBwithin the secureestate.

Secure estate for childrenand young people

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The ‘secure estate forchildren and youngpeople’ is the collectiveterm for securechildren’s homes, securetraining centres andyoung offenderinstitutions.

The ‘secure estate for children andyoung people’ is the collective termfor the three types of establishmentin which 10 to 17-year-oldssentenced or remanded to custody inEngland and Wales can be placed:

• secure children’s homes

• secure training centres (STCs)

• young offender institutions (YOIs).

Secure children’s homes

Secure children’s homes are runeither by local authority socialservices departments or by private companies, overseen by the Department of Health and theDepartment for Education and Skillsin England, and Social Services forWales and Estyn in Wales.

Out of the three types ofestablishment, secure children’shomes have the highest ratio of staffto young people, and are generallysmaller, ranging in size from six to 40

beds. They are usually used toaccommodate younger children(those aged 12 to 14), youngwomen up to the age of 16, and 15to 16-year-old young men who areassessed as needing extra care.

Secure training centres

STCs are purpose-built centres foryoung people up to the age of 17.They are run by private operatorsunder Youth Justice Board forEngland and Wales (YJB) contracts,which set out detailed operationalrequirements. There are four STCs inEngland:

• Oakhill in Bedfordshire

• Hassockfield in County Durham

• Rainsbrook in Northamptonshire

• Medway in Kent.

The typical staff-to-young peopleratio in an STC is 3:8.

Young offender institutions

YOIs are run either by the PrisonService or by the private sector, andcan accommodate 15 to 21-year-olds. The YJB commissions andpurchases the places for under-18s(i.e. 15 to 17-year-old boys and 17-year-old girls), who are held in unitsthat are completely separate fromthose for 18 to 21-year-olds. About81% of young people in custody areheld in YOIs.

YOIs have lower ratios of staff toyoung people than STCs and securechildren's homes, and accommodatelarger numbers of young people.Consequently, they are less able toaddress the individual needs ofyoung people, and are generallyconsidered to be less suitableaccommodation for those who havebeen assessed as more vulnerable.

About 81% ofyoung people incustody are held inYOIs.

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The YJB works to prevent offendingand reoffending by children andyoung people under the age of 18,and to ensure that custody for themis safe, secure and addresses thecauses of their offending behaviour.While we do not work directly withyoung people or sentence youngpeople to custody, we are involved inthe secure estate in several ways,including:

• commissioning places

• overseeing escort services

• deciding in which establishmenteach young person should be held(‘placing’ him or her)

• setting standards and monitoring.

Commissioning places

In April 2000, we were maderesponsible for commissioning andpurchasing all places for youngpeople sentenced or remanded tocustody by the courts.

We spend around three-quarters ofour budget on providing custodialplaces.

Escort services

We commission, set standards forand manage the services thattransport young people to and withinthe secure estate (for instance, fromcourts to custody).

Placing a young person

After a young person has beensentenced or remanded to custodyby the courts, the YJB PlacementsTeam decides in which part of thesecure estate he or she should beheld. The decision is based on:

• an assessment of the young person’sindividual risks and needs, providedby the youth offending team (YOT)responsible for him or her

• trying to keep the young person asclose to home as possible

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What’s the YJB’sinvolvement?

We have establisheda nationalplacement systemthat matchesplacements to need.

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• the availability of places

• the age, gender, maturity, and risksassociated with the young person.

We have established a nationalplacement system that matchesplacements to need (although this issubject to resource constraints).

Setting standards andmonitoring

We set the performance standardsthat the secure estate is required tomeet. In addition, we monitorwhether each establishment bothmeets the requirements set out in itscontract or service level agreementand complies with the NationalStandards for Youth Justice Services.Set by the Home Secretary on advicefrom the YJB, these set out theminimum level of service required ofthose working in the youth justicesystem. Available fromwww.yjb.gov.uk.

Young people who are being held inthe secure estate have either beenremanded or sentenced to custody bythe courts.

Remanded to custody

If the court adjourns a case (moves itto another date), it will usually decideto remand the young person,particularly if he or she is chargedwith a serious offence. It can chooseto remand the young person:

• on conditional bail

• on unconditional bail

• to local authority accommodation

• to custody (secure remand).

Young people under 17 who arecharged and not released on bail willgenerally be remanded to localauthority accommodation (and unlessit is a condition of the remand, thelocal authority can then choose whattype of accommodation it provides

for the young person). If secureremand is required (because theoffence is particularly serious or theyoung person has offendedfrequently), the young person willusually be placed in a securechildren's home or STC.

Sentenced to custody

If no alternative community-basedpunishment is appropriate (due to the seriousness of the offence, thesignificant offending history of theyoung person or the risk to thepublic), young people who haveoffended will be sentenced tocustody.

The Detention and Training Order(DTO) is the main custodial sentencefor young people aged 12 to 17 years.The length of the sentence is betweenfour months and two years. The firsthalf of the sentence is spent in custody,and the second in the community,under the supervision of the YOT.

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Secure estate population

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For details of the other custodialsentences available, see the YouthJustice System brochure.

Discrimination

Black and Minority Ethnic youngpeople are still over-represented inthe youth justice system as a whole.

The YJB’s report, Differences orDiscrimination?, found:

• a greater proportion of Black andAsian males had been remanded incustody before sentencing

• a slightly greater use of custody forAsian males

• a much higher probability that aBlack male would, if convicted at aCrown Court, receive a sentence of12 months or longer

• a much greater proportion ofmixed-parentage females whowere prosecuted.

Money from the YJB’s intensivesupervision and surveillanceprogrammes is channelled to targetyoung people in high custody areasto reduce over-representation incustody.

Numbers of young peoplein custody

For details of the number of youngpeople in custody each month, seethe ‘Custody’ section of the YouthJustice System area ofwww.yjb.gov.uk.

We think that:

• custody should only be used as alast resort

• punishment should lie in the loss ofliberty itself, and not in thetoughness of the regime

• custody should engage the youngperson in positive activities provento reduce the likelihood ofreoffending

• the rights young people hold in thecommunity should be respectedand upheld in custody.

These principles underpin all our workwith and within the secure estate.

Custody should only beused as a last resort

Young people are vulnerable,dependent and still developing. Wethink that in most cases, custody isnot the right way to make youngpeople accountable for their actions,

or to lower the chances of theirreoffending, because it involves:

• removing them from any positivefactors that are present in theirlives, which could be built on tohelp them stop reoffending (suchas a positive family relationship)

• cutting their access to mainstreamservices (like education or training) –and it can then be very difficult forthem to resume contact after release.

Therefore, we think that to lowerrates of reoffending, we should bereducing the number of youngpeople sent to the secure estate,while dealing with their offendingbehaviour through community-basedmethods wherever possible.

Community-based alternatives tocustodyWe need a robust, community-basedalternative to custody that protectsthe public but also allows young

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What we think aboutcustody

people who have persistently andseriously offended to build on the protective factors in their lives andmaintain their access to mainstreamservices (such as schools).

We want sentencers and thecommunity to have more confidencein community-based sentences. Thiswill gradually help them to usecustody less.

There are a number of community-based sentences (such as the Intensive Supervision andSurveillance Programme) that can beused instead of custodial sentences(more details are available on ourwebsite, www.yjb.gov.uk).

Intensive Supervision andSurveillance ProgrammeThe Intensive Supervision andSurveillance Programme (ISSP) is themost rigorous non-custodialintervention available for youngpeople who have offended. Itcombines:

• community-based surveillance(which can include an electronictag, or monitoring a young person’swhereabouts over the phone)

• a comprehensive and sustainedfocus on tackling the factors that

contribute to a young person’soffending behaviour.

ISSP is now operating across all ofEngland and Wales. There are 74ISSP schemes and the intervention isavailable in all 156 youth offendingteams (YOTs).

Punishment should lie inthe loss of liberty itself, andnot in the toughness of theregime

The secure estate should keep youngpeople safe from harm, andsentences and the resettlement ofyoung people into the communitymust be planned in order to helpthem avoid reoffending on release.We also think that restrictions placedon a young person’s liberty should bein proportion to the actual risk theypresent to themselves and others.

Custody should engage theyoung person in positiveactivities proven to reducethe likelihood ofreoffending

Education, training andemploymentYoung people who are not engagedin education, training or employmentare much more likely to reoffend

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‘You have to spend aminimum of 25hours a week doingthings that will helpin the future. It leadsyou away from a lifeof crime.’(Young person, ISSPprogramme)

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than those who are. Those in custodyreceive compulsory education andtraining (for between 25 and 30hours a week), which is monitored byOfsted like all other schools.

The YJB’s National Specification forLearning and Skills (2004) describesthe education, training andemployment that we require securechildren’s homes and STCs toprovide. We monitor how wellestablishments are complying withthis, and Ofsted report regularly onthe quality of what is provided.

In YOIs, the responsibility for fundingand commissioning education hasrecently been taken over by theLearning and Skills Council, whichalso monitors the quality of theprovision. All of the educationproviders used by this new OffenderLearning and Skills Service (OLASS)are further education colleges, orregistered training partners.

Working in partnership with theDepartment for Education and Skills,we have developed better custodialeducation throughout the secureestate, by overseeing theintroduction of key specialist staff(like learning support assistants),putting a new focus on literacy and

numeracy and quadrupling thefunding available.

Substance misuse and mentalhealth Research indicates that young peoplewho have offended have very highlevels of mental health disorder,substance misuse and general healthproblems.

Young people in custody should havethe same access to services toaddress these problems as any childor young person in the community;accordingly, we have introduced 24-hour health care, and the transferof health provision responsibility fromthe Prison Service to primary caretrusts.

We are also working with theDepartment of Health, the PrisonService and the National TreatmentAgency on a comprehensive healthscreening tool for the secure estate,which includes health, mental healthand substance misuse assessments,and is completed within five days ofa young person’s arrival. The resultsof this assessment can then link in toeach young person’s sentence plan.

The YJB’s National Specification forSubstance Misuse Services forJuveniles in Custody was implemented

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on 1 April 2004. Its requirements havenow been added to:

• service level agreements betweenthe YJB and the Prison Service

• contracts between the YJB andsecure children's homes and STCs.

There are substance misuse teams inall YOIs to deliver the NationalSpecification, as well as provision inSTCs and secure children’s homes.There is also a programme in place tointroduce over 90 new staff and toprovide one-to-one and group workon substance misuse in YOIs; and theYJB is piloting detoxification andclinical management guidance (thefirst of its kind for under 18s) foryoung people in five secureestablishments.

For more information, see the Healthbrochure.

Sport and artThese subjects are embedded in theEnglish National Curriculum, whichinforms the National Specification forLearning and Skills and the Offenders’Learning Journey (OLASS’s equivalent),and so are a key part of secureestablishment life. The YJB is workingwith the Home Office's PositiveFutures programme and the Arts

Council England to pilot improveddiversionary activities using sport andart.

Rights of children andyoung people held incustody should be respectedand upheld

Young people held in custody havehistorically been excluded from themainstream services most children inour country are entitled to by law.However, in 2002, Mr Justice Munbyjudged that:

• the Children Act (1989) shouldapply to children detained in YOIs

• duties owed by local authoritiescontinue to be owed to children inYOIs

• human rights legislation,particularly the Human Rights Act(1998), applies to children incustodial facilities.

There are substancemisuse teams in all

YOIs.

Safety in th

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Safety in the secure estate

We are committed to minimising thelikelihood of harm to young people inthe secure estate through rigoroussafeguarding measures, whatever theestablishment.

Safeguards and safetyWe do all we can to ensure thatyoung people involved in the youthjustice system are kept safe, and thattheir welfare is promoted. Weimplement strict safeguards in orderto minimise the likelihood of harmoccurring to young people in custody.These include:

• establishing a code of practice forbehaviour managementarrangements (especially physicalrestraint)

• well-developed self-harm, suicideand bullying preventionprogrammes

• practices to prevent harm fromadults, including separateaccommodation wherever possible

• provision of independent supportservices

• initial funding for 25 local authoritystaff in YOIs to undertake duties inaccordance with the Children Act1989

• investing to improve the quality andsafety of accommodation across thesecure estate.

RestraintUsing physical interventions withchildren and young people in securesettings is sometimes necessary, butonly ever as a last resort. Whenbehaviour is so challenging that itpresents an assessed risk to others, tothe young person him or herself or tostaff, minimum force may be used bytrained staff, for the shortest possibleduration.

Restraint is never used as apunishment or to make young peoplecomply with staff instructions.

Safety in th

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Work is underway with the PrisonService to see whether their system ofrestraint can be modified so that itrelies less on the controlled use ofpain; and we have also completed areview of Physical Control in Care(PCC), the system used in securetraining centres. We are working withall providers of custody for children todevelop more consistent informationon restraints, so that any necessaryimprovements are put in place.

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Monitoring performance inthe secure estate

We monitor the secure estate inorder to:

• ensure that it is meeting the highstandards we require of it

• assess its impact on the youthjustice system

• make sure that young people arekept in a safe, stimulatingenvironment

• ensure that it does all that it can toreduce the likelihood of youngpeople reoffending

• make sure we are obtaining valuefor money.

Effective regimes

We monitor how well everyestablishment in the secure estateperforms against what it has agreedto do, as well as against our ownstandards. We do this using ourEffective Regimes framework.

Effective Regimes monitors everystage of a young person’s passagethrough custody, including:

• their arrival in custody

• what happens to them while incustody (the quality of the servicesthey receive).

Based on what we find out, we canact, if necessary, to improve howthings are done in the secure estate.

Inspections

In addition to this monitoringframework, regular inspections ofYOIs are carried out by Her Majesty’sInspectorate of Prisons (HMIP).

HMIP inspects YOIs on the basis ofthe following criteria:

• safe custody

• good order

• race relations

We monitor howwell everyestablishment in thesecure estateperforms againstwhat it has agreedto do.

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• healthcare

• work.

Their reports can be found atwww.inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk

Commission for Social CareInspection reports

In England, annual STC and securechildren’s home inspections arecarried out by the Commission forSocial Care Inspection (CSCI), andreports from October 2003 onwardsare on their website(www.csci.org.uk). Earlier reports canfound on the Department of Healthwebsite, (www.dh.gov.uk). In Wales,inspections are carried out by theCare Standards Inspectorate forWales.

Life after custo

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Life after custody

It is important that when youngpeople are released, resettlementactivities complement the work donewith them in custody.

Getting resettlement right is vitallyimportant in ensuring that youngpeople leaving custody, whatevertheir background or circumstances,are given the support they need.Planning should begin at the pre-court stage, and continue throughcustody, into the community andbeyond the end of a young person’scontact with the YOT.

The YJB's Youth Resettlement: AFramework for Action (available fromwww.yjb.gov.uk) sets out what needsto be done nationally, regionally andlocally to develop work in this area.This plan highlights the followingareas as being central to effectiveresettlement:

• Case Management and Transitions

• Accommodation

• Education, Training and Employment

• Health

• Substance Misuse

• Families

• Finance, Benefits & Debt

Helplines available to young people,who are in or have just left custody,are listed on our websitewww.yjb.gov.uk on our ‘Advice forYoung People in Custody’ page.

Resettlement and AftercareProvision

We place particular emphasis onresettlement and aftercare for thoseyoung people who entered custodywith substance misuse problems. The Resettlement and AftercareProvision (RAP) programme, which isrun by YOTs, aims to:

• engage young people while theyare in custody

The aim is toprepare youngpeople for a law-abiding life after release.

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• provide a continuing high level of support during the communitypart of their Detention and Training Order

• offer up to six months’ supportafter their sentence.

The core RAP provision offers up to25 hours of planned support andactivities each week, including:

• access to substance misuse andmental health treatment

• support to find accommodation

• education, training andemployment

• positive use of leisure time

• peer and family support work

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What we’ve achieved so far

The secure estate for children andyoung people has improvedsignificantly since the YJB was formed.

• We have established a nationalplacement system that matchesplacement to need.

• We have introduced nationalstandards and targets, againstwhich performance is monitored.

• There are better education facilities andregimes, with young people spendingmore time out of their rooms.

• Safeguarding arrangements havebeen improved, including rigorousscreening for risk and need, andimproved and safer physicalenvironments.

• More places are available forvulnerable and younger childrenoutside the Prison Serviceestablishments.

• There are improved healthcarearrangements, including provision of 24-hour health care.

• STC provision has expanded by 144places.

• All girls under the age of 17 yearshave been removed from PrisonService accommodation, andhoused in secure children’s homesor STCs; 17-year-olds are housed indedicated units separate from adultwomen.

• Rainsbrook STC has provision forthree dedicated mother-and-babyplaces which means, for the firsttime, that young mothers under 18years of age have dedicatedprovision outside of the PrisonService to meet their needs andthose of their babies.

• We have funded RAP programmesin 50 YOTs, which work with atleast 960 children and young peopleper year.

All girls under theage of 17 years

have been removedfrom Prison

Serviceaccommodation.

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Looking forward

Our Strategy for the Secure Estate forChildren and Young People (availablefrom the website, www.yjb.gov.uk)sets out the steps that the YJBintends to take in the next threeyears to develop the secure estatewithin the available resources. Wepropose working closely with thePrison Service and private contractorsto improve regimes, while looking foropportunities to improve, diversifyand modernise the secure estate.

The speed with which we will beable to achieve this strategy willdepend on the sentencing trend overthe next three years, and theavailability of resources.

Three major areas that theseimprovements will focus on arediscussed below.

Improving the physicalstructure of the secureestate

To take forward the Strategy for theSecure Estate for Children and YoungPeople, we are focusing on how thesecure estate will be developed overthe next ten years. Changes include:

• the reduction of ‘split sites’ (whereyoung people are kept in the sameestablishments as adult offenders,although in completely separateunits)

• the creation within establishmentsof smaller units that can offer morespecialised support to youngpeople who are assessed as havingparticular needs (for instance, asbeing more at risk of self-harm).

We aim to workwith sentencers sothat the number ofyoung people incustody is reducedby 10%.

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Reducing the numbers ofyoung people in custody

We aim to work with sentencers sothat the number of young people incustody is reduced by 10% betweenMarch 2005 and March 2008.

Proposals to achieve this include thefollowing:

• strengthening communityalternatives to custody

• the ability to place young peoplewho are assessed as suitable for itin non-secure establishments

• the more flexible use of plannedtemporary release, sometimessupported by electronicmonitoring, so that young peoplein custody can take advantage oftraining and employmentopportunities in the community.

Meeting the needs ofyoung people in custody inWales

Because of a lack of secure places inWales, the overwhelming majority ofWelsh young people in custody areheld in establishments in England.We need to work closely with theWelsh Assembly Government toaddress this issue, and will decidethe best way to develop provision inWales on the basis of therecommendations of the YJB/WelshAssembly Government workinggroup.

The YJB has published a series of corporate brochures. The followingtitles are available to order from the YJB website or its order line:

Tel: 0870 120 7400Fax: 0870 120 7401

Stock code TitleB281 The Youth Justice Board for England and WalesB282 Wiring Up Youth JusticeB306 Education, Training and EmploymentB307 CustodyB308 AccommodationB309 Working with VictimsB310 HealthB312 Monitoring Performance and Improving PracticeB313 PreventionB314 ParentingB315 Getting Involved

For more information on the processes and organisations of the youthjustice system as a whole, see the Youth Justice System publication(B311)

Youth Justice Board forEngland and WalesBwrdd CyfiawnderIeuenctid Cymru a Lloegr 11 Carteret Street, London SW1H 9DLTel: 020 7271 3033 Fax: 020 7271 3030www.yjb.gov.uk