New mental health rules for young offenders proposed

Young offenders in secure accommodation cannot be moved to specialist mental health units under current rules

Young offenders in secure accommodation could be allowed to move to a specialist mental health facility while they receive treatment, if new proposals are agreed by the States of Jersey.

Adult prisoners and anyone kept in a young offenders institution can be moved to another facility to receive treatment for mental health issues, by an order from Jersey's Royal Court.

But a gap in the island's laws means young offenders in secure accommodation, which is used for all but the most extreme cases, cannot be moved to a treatment facility.

Deputy Mary Le Hegarat, the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, has asked the States to "urgently address" what she called a "long-standing issue" with the law.

The proposals say the "vast majority" of young offenders who are given custodial sentences are kept in secure accommodation.

The States said young offenders institutions were only used as an "absolute last resort", with only boys and young men being imprisoned there.

The current law allows prisoners to be transferred to an approved mental health facility for treatment.

Young offenders institutions meet the definition of a "prison", but secure accommodation does not, which is why the existing law does not apply to them.

This effectively means that most young people in custody, including all girls and young women, are not covered by the current laws.

The changes would bring Jersey's law in line with its commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which the island signed up to in 2014.

The proposals said: "The Mental Health Law as currently enacted does not fully comply with this UNCRC Article and therefore infringes on children’s UNCRC rights in Jersey."

The proposals are set for a States debate in September.