Carolyne Willow, CRAE’s national co-ordinator, said:

‘The JCHR has told Government in the strongest possible terms that it is failing to uphold the human rights of children in custody, and leaving children exposed to intolerable levels of violence. This is a devastating report that Ministers should act on immediately. The harrowing account in the Committee's report of Gareth Myatt's death shows just how desensitised the authorities have become to child abuse in prisons.’

The JCHR’s report fully supports the changes proposed by CRAE and other campaign groups, as well as the families of children who have died in custody, by recommending the repeal of new rules brought in last year to allow restraint to secure ‘good order and discipline’ and the abolition of painful ‘distraction’ techniques. The Committee makes more than 30 other conclusions and recommendations aimed at improving respect for the human rights of children in custody under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and other instruments. It says:

‘We are dissatisfied by the Minister’s explanation of how current policy and practice comply with human rights standards.’

‘Recent events show that the use of force can lead to tragic results. It is therefore of paramount importance that the Rules governing its application leave no room for doubt. The Rules, as amended, do not achieve this.’

‘There can be no justification for practices which involve the deliberate infliction of pain, such as the so-called “distraction techniques”, and we therefore recommend their abolition without delay.’

The JCHR also recommends the full disclosure of the ‘Physical Control in Care’ (PCC) manual, in which restraint techniques authorised for use in STCs are described, stating:

‘We are … very concerned by the impossibility of scrutinising for human rights compatibility techniques of physical restraint which remain secret.’

CRAE sought disclosure of the manual 10 months ago through a freedom of information request. We were refused by Ministers and await the outcome of an appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Freedom of information requests by CRAE have revealed the following:

• Painful ‘distraction’ techniques were used 768 times in STCs in the period November 2004 to October 2005 and resulted in 51 child injuries, with no children receiving outside medical treatment; and
• These painful techniques were used 121 times between February and August 2006.

In December 2007, the Government announced the suspension of two restraint techniques – nose ‘distractions’ and the double basket hold - following ‘concerns’ expressed by a new panel of medical experts.

This move followed a visit to the UK by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) later last year, during which they discussed the use of restraint with Ministers. Carolyne Willow, CRAE’s national co-ordinator, first wrote to the Committee in November 2005 seeking its help in bringing to an end the practice of deliberately inflicting pain on children during restraint in breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and articles 19 and 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, amongst other international human rights standards. Representatives from CRAE and the NSPCC met the CPT delegation ahead of its meeting with Ministers.

Thirty children have died in custody in the UK since 1990, the most recent death – of 15 year-old Liam McManus - having occurred late last year. Fourteen year-old Adam Rickwood and 15 year-old Gareth Myatt both died in 2004 following the use of physical restraint by staff, in two of the country's four secure training centres. Adam had been subjected to a nose ‘distraction’ hours before his death. In a statement found in his room after he died, Adam explained:

“…When I calmed down I asked them why they hit me in the nose and jumped on me. They said it was because I wouldn't go in my room so I said what gives them the right to hit a 14-year-old child in the nose and they said it was restraint…”