Youth offending teams boycott G4S secure training centre

Youth offending teams (YOTs) are refusing to send young people to Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre following a damning Ofsted inspection report which revealed gross misconduct by staff at the facility, Children and Young People Now reports.

The Ofsted report, published in May, found that some children held at Rainsbrook had been subjected to 'degrading treatment' and 'racist comments' by staff, some of whom were on drugs at the time. 

The report said staff had behaved 'extremely inappropriately' with children and caused them 'distress and humiliation'.

The inspectors revealed that one child held at the facility didn't receive medical assistance for a fracture - possibly the result of being restrained - for 15 hours.

According to the Association of Youth Offending Team Managers (AYM), the Youth Justice Board has refused a request for information about improvement plans being put in place in Rainsbrook. As a result, YOTs don't have faith that the secure training centre is a safe place to send young people.

AYM have also said that YOT managers were not made aware of the issues at Rainsbrook until the release of the Ofsted report in May. They said they should have been informed of the safety concerns when they were discovered by inspectors in February.

This news comes after G4S faced criticism at its AGM last week, as shareholders asked the board what went wrong in Rainsbrook. You can read a report on the AGM from the Reclaim Justice Network here.

Following the release of the Ofsted inspection report into Rainsbrook, letters criticising the use of prison for children appeared in The Guardian.