After three years of secrecy and resistance, the Youth Justice Board (YJB) has agreed to hand over the instructors' manual which governs the use of physical restraint in the country's four privately-run child prisons. This victory for child protection comes days before the YJB and Ministry of Justice were set to argue at an Information Tribunal appeal hearing that handing over the document would pose a serious risk to prison security and public safety. The YJB was appealing against an order by the Information Commissioner in December 2009 that the document be given to the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE). It has now withdrawn its appeal, days before the hearing.  Carolyne Willow, CRAE's national co-ordinator, says:

Since two children died in privately-run child prisons in 2004, the YJB and the Ministry of Justice have had six long years to bring everything out into the open. Until now, we've seen a compulsive reliance on secrecy and an absolute failure to face up publicly to the disgraceful and unlawful treatment of children the State officially describes as vulnerable. The Justice Secretary should now order an independent judicial inquiry under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights examining the abusive regimes of these private child prisons going right back to 1998.

Until a few days ago, the YJB claimed that full disclosure of the instructors' manual would threaten the safety of prisoners and custody officers - arguing that inmates may try to emulate the methods or develop counter-techniques. The YJB also argued that the document could get into the hands of political extremists and animal rights activists and could even be used by the general public. Prison staff are not allowed copies and access was previously denied to the Parliamentary human rights select committee, as well as the Court of Appeal when it was considering the lawfulness of using restraint on children for the purposes of good order and discipline.

This is the first time a document illustrating prison restraint techniques has been released to the public. Parts of the manual illustrate techniques also used in adult prisons, which is one of the reasons the Ministry of Justice wanted to keep it secret.

Previous versions of the document sent to CRAE had crucial sections blanked out making it impossible to assess the extent to which human rights violations in the privately-run child prisons were authorised by former Ministers. CRAE believes the release of the manual will make it easier for staff and institutions to be fully held to account for their treatment of children. This may lead to prosecutions for assault, child cruelty and possibly even torture which is defined under domestic law as intentionally inflicting severe physical or mental pain or suffering in the course of official duties. Statistics obtained by CRAE show that, until at least 2005, the so-called nose, rib and thumb "distractions" were being used on average four times a week in each STC. The High Court last year found 37 counts of unlawful restraint for non compliance with 26 reports of nose injuries in just a single month in Hassockfield. The Court said it was astonished that the YJB who has monitors in each of the child prisons took no action and said it would be "futile" to expect it to adequately protect children in future. Carolyne Willow adds:

The Justice Secretary should not be fooled into thinking the restraint review commissioned by former Ministers came anywhere close to what is required under the UK's human rights obligations. That Peter Smallridge and Andrew Williamson condoned the use of painful wrist locks and the so-called thumb and rib "distractions" when nationally and internationally these methods of restraint have been almost universally condemned should sound immediate alarm bells. The UN Human Rights Council, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, the four UK Children's Commissioners, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the coroner presiding over the death by restraint of 15 year-old Gareth Myatt as well as numerous children's and penal reform charities have strongly opposed restraint methods that deliberately set out to hurt and humiliate children. Even the Department of Health told Smallridge and Williamson that such methods are unnecessary in managing challenging and difficult behaviour.

Two children died in 2004 following restraint-related incidents in STCs and there is growing documentation of unlawful and abusive practice. Lord Justice Buxton, in quashing restraint rules rushed through in 2007 to legitimise former unlawful practice, described reports of the circumstances in which 15 year-old Gareth Myatt choked to death whilst being restrained as "demonstrat[ing] an outrageous attitude on the officers' part".
 
Carolyne Willow adds:

It's fantastic to be getting the manual after all this time, though this challenge has diverted limited resources away from other vital children's rights work. CRAE faces constant difficulties in fundraising, and is a fraction of the size of the YJB which is funded by the taxpayer. In fact, the money spent by the YJB on consultants last year could cover CRAE's entire salary bill for nearly three years.

Even though the YJB has withdrawn its appeal it has still not handed over the full document to CRAE. The Information Tribunal gave it 20 days to do so at the end of last week.