Rainsbrook: Children in near-solitary confinement at secure training centre

The secure unit houses up to 87 boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 18

A secure centre for children involved in crimes has been holding them in near solitary confinement despite having been previously told to stop.

Three watchdogs have ordered ministers to take urgent action against the Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre

Boys and girls have been locked in their rooms there for almost 24 hours a day as a quarantine measure.

Ofsted, HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Care Quality Commission say the practice is unacceptable.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland now has 28 days to respond.

Officials have confirmed they are aiming not to send any more children to Rainsbrook while urgent action is taken - and the contractor who runs the centre, MTC, says it recognises the severity of the findings.

What is a Secure Training Centre?

Rainsbrook, in Northamptonshire, is a secure training centre run by a private contractor, MTC. It holds some of the most vulnerable children in the criminal justice system - boys and girls convicted or awaiting trial for serious offences, who typically also have complex behavioural problems or other vulnerabilities, such as self-harming.

The centre is designed to hold up to 87 children securely and also provide an education as close as possible to a school.

Concerns about the treatment of children inside the centre became public earlier this month.

Inspectors found during a visit in October that 15-year-olds arriving at the centre were being locked up for a fortnight of coronavirus quarantine - and only being allowed out for half an hour a day.

The watchdogs then went back into the centre earlier this month - and found that little had changed, despite their highly critical report.

Yet again, they found children being held in near-solitary confinement - and they described the picture as "bleak".

How were children being treated?

Five children had been locked up for substantial periods of time. One girl had had no time at all out of her room on two days.

A boy had only been allowed to leave his room for a total of four hours over 14 days.

There was no evidence the children were receiving an adequate education and there was little encouragement given to them to get up in the morning or spend meaningful time with staff.

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted's chief inspector, said even with the risk of Covid, the children should have been allowed out at least four and a half hours a day/

"Rainsbrook was warned that its treatment of newly admitted children was unacceptable, yet these concerns have been ignored," she said. "Some of the most vulnerable children are being locked up for days on end, with little thought about their safety or well-being. Leaders and government must act now to address this."

And Charlie Taylor, HM Inspectorate of Prisons Chief Inspector, said: "It is astonishing that in spite of our original findings, the Youth Custody Service and the centre had continued to allow children to be held in what amounted to solitary confinement, particularly after we had been assured that this was no longer the case."

The three watchdogs have now issued an "urgent notification" - the first time they have used their legal power to order the Justice Secretary, Robert Buckland, to come back with an action plan to improve conditions in a STC.

"We have decided to invoke the urgent notification process because of the continued poor care experienced by children, the lack of leadership grip and lack of oversight of practice by local and national leaders," said Ms Spielman.

"Since 2015, every joint inspection has judged the centre as 'requires improvement to be good' with the effectiveness of leaders and managers being judged 'inadequate' on two occasions. This provides little confidence in the centre's capacity to improve the care, well-being and safety of children."

What did the MOJ know?

• The MOJ says its Youth Custody Service asked MTC in August and September to consider allowing newly-arriving detainees to "bubble" so they could spend more time together.

• In early October, YCS officials visited Rainsbrook and noted bubbling plans were still not in place.

• When the independent watchdogs visited in October, and criticised the lock-ups, the YCS ordered the centre to change how children were being quarantined - but in November there was a Covid outbreak.

• The Ministry of Justice has its own monitor inside the centre, but it is not clear what was reported back to officials and ministers about the durations of the lock-ups.

What's been the response?

Justice minister Lucy Frazer said: "These findings are incredibly concerning and disappointing, particularly as MTC gave repeated assurances that they would act on previous warnings.

She said "additional and experienced" managers were being sent into the centre. While the MOJ does not intend to send children to the STC until there are improvements, it is the only centre in with a specialist teenage mother and baby unit.

In a statement, MTC said it recognised the severity of the watchdog's findings.

"Following Ofsted's initial recommendations, we immediately installed new leadership and implemented measures to improve and strengthen governance and management oversight at the centre.

"We recognise there is more work to do to improve the centre and we do accept more should have been done during this challenging period."