Children are held in solitary 23 hours a day

CHILD offenders are being held for up to 23 hours a day in solitary confinement behind bars in what a justice minister described as a “completely unacceptable” situation.

Some are held in solitary for all but 15 minutes a day at weekends, putting their mental health at risk and breaching a prison service ban on its use, watchdogs said.

Two thirds of the children in the “separation units” at five young offender institutions (YOIS) in England and Wales were held in “grim” conditions where they were denied daily showers, phone calls and exercise.

Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said it was “inexplicable” when the prison service’s own policy explicitly stated that solitary confinement and the use of separation as a punishment was “prohibited”.

“The weaknesses of current practice and oversight are of such magnitude that we recommend that current practice be replaced,” he said. Wendy Morton, a justice minister, said: “That is completely unacceptable, and I am determined it will not continue. There is no excuse for some of the practices highlighted in this report.”

Around one in 10 of the 600 children in the five YOIS were held in solitary, some in cells that were “dirty, mouldy, heavily graffitied and unwelcoming”. The inspectors found eight segregated children waiting to transfer to a secure hospital to be treated for mental health conditions who had spent a combined total of 373 days in separation.