Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre (Hansard, 28 April 2004)

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, the staff directly involved have been transferred to duties not involving contact with children. It would, in view of the circumstances, be inappropriate to suspend or discipline any staff without prima facie evidence that they had acted in an inappropriate, unprofessional or criminal manner. However, if, following police investigations, further concerns are raised, the physical control in care certificate would be revoked from the staff in question. Staff without a valid certification are not allowed to practise in any childcare establishment.

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. I recognise the constraints under which it was delivered. But whatever the cause of the death of this child of 15, who stood under five feet tall, is it not clear from the police report on the event that it followed his violent resistance to being told to go to bed at nine o'clock in the evening? It followed the application by staff of what the report itself describes as, their normal techniques of physical control and care", during which he lost consciousness, never to recover it. In view of the grotesque disproportion between this child's death and his loss of temper, and the worryingly 780 large number of other juveniles injured in other establishments, as well as that one, during the use of those "normal techniques", do not the Government agree that the time has come for a fully independent and thorough review of the training of staff in juvenile establishments, the use of restraints and control and the use of solitary confinement?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, I want to record my deepest sympathy at the sad death of Gareth at this establishment. I am sure that that sympathy will be shared by your Lordships' House.
The noble Lord refers to a report that, as far as I am aware, is not yet a public document. Inquiries and investigations are continuing. It would be quite wrong of us in your Lordships' House this afternoon to prejudge not just a police inquiry but inquiries that will properly be carried out by the social services department, and the final inquiries that will be carried out by the Youth Justice Board.
The use of restraint and control methods is very carefully monitored and it must be understood that the physical control in care technique that is used is designed primarily for use in secure training centres. It is based on risk assessment and is non-pain compliant. I understand the concerns that the noble Lord raised about its use elsewhere, perhaps in the rest of the prison estate, but this particular establishment has a very good track record regarding the way in which it deals with and treats young offenders. It deals with them with great care. This is a tragic incident and I do not think that we should prejudge it.

§ Lord Dholakia
My Lords, the figure of two deaths a week on average in our prisons at the present time is surely unacceptable. Will the Minister confirm that the police investigation is limited to determining whether criminal charges are brought? The coroner's inquest is likely to tell us very little other than the cause of death. Will the Minister consider the suggestion made by the noble Lord, Lord Elton, that a public inquiry based on similar lines to that of the Lawrence inquiry conducted by Sir William Macpherson would be likely to yield much more information on how we fail in our care of people in custody?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, in this instance noble Lords should focus on exactly what this centre provides. It is a secure training centre designed particularly for those who are vulnerable. The death that we are discussing was a great tragedy. Three investigations are currently being undertaken. The noble Lord asked that attention should be focused on the control technique that was applied. The Youth Justice Board has commissioned an inquiry to deal specifically with that issue. It is right and proper for that inquiry to be completed. Of course, it is right that the police thoroughly investigate—they are doing so— 781 the incident itself. They and the Crown Prosecution Service will form a view on whether or not criminal charges will then follow.

§ Baroness Stern
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§ Lord Campbell of Alloway
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Noble Lords
Cross Bench!

§ Baroness Stern
My Lords, is the Minister aware that according to the Howard League for Penal Reform these control and restraint procedures were used 3,615 times on children in prison over a 22-month period and that 296 children were injured in those incidents? Now we have this tragic death. Is it not now time to accept the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Human Rights that these children should be moved out of Home Office-controlled prison establishments and into homes run under the care system?

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, it is very hard for us in your Lordships' House to form such a judgment. I quite understand the concerns that are expressed about this particular control technique. It is designed specifically for use in secure training centres and in those premises that are run by local authorities as secure children's homes. A number of allegations have been made about the high rate of physical injuries but they relate in particular to youth offender institutions within the prison estate. My understanding is that the number of injuries sustained in secure training centres is very low—one or two per establishment. The most recent unpublished report of the Social Services Inspectorate covering Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre states: The general trend of incidents of physical restraint was on the decline. In the main young people said, when it occurred, physical restraint was justified and sensitively done". Physical restraint is necessary not just to protect staff and other children in care but also to protect those involved in the incident. My understanding is that it is only in extremis that this particular technique is used. The principle behind it is to ensure that no pain is inflicted and that restraint is effective so that the situation can be calmed down. The centre that we are discussing and the staff within it have attracted great praise for the way in which it works.

§ The Lord Bishop of Worcester
My Lords, I express appreciation to the Minister for beginning one of his answers with an expression of condolence for what is first and foremost a terrible human tragedy. If we do not do that, we easily collude with the notion that—although I do not attribute this to any noble Lord who has spoken—people who die in custody or under restraint are in some way not human beings and that their families do not have the same feelings as others.
Behind all of this does there not lie the need for a much more profound investigation of the effect on young persons of finding themselves in a secure 782 institution, and whether we need a far more wide-ranging and imaginative investigation of what can be done with children who find ordinary social interaction difficult or impossible? There is a real danger that incarcerating them simply makes their situation worse and leads to the kind of behaviour that provokes the response about which concern has been expressed in the House.

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, I understand where the right reverend Prelate is coming from. I sympathise with the general thrust of his comments. However, the secure training centres in particular are designed to assist vulnerable young people. From everything that I have read of Gareth's background, he was certainly a very vulnerable young man. Many of those who enter secure training centres come from chaotic family backgrounds and need to be dealt with sensitively. That is why the secure training centres are designed to work in the way in which they do. They are very successful institutions.
Of course, we should exercise imagination. Incarceration should be only a last resort. However, sometimes it is appropriate. When all is said and done, in considering tragic cases such as the one that we are discussing, we should remember that the decision to incarcerate young offenders is not taken lightly and is done for society's and their own good.