Prisons: Young Offenders

Lord Dubs Excerpts

Wednesday 21st July 2010 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Dubs]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the techniques in the HM Prison Service manual Physical Control in Care are applicable to young offenders in privately run prisons.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

My Lords, Physical Control in Care was a system of restraint techniques approved for use in secure training centres in circumstances where the risks arising from young people’s behaviour could not be dealt with by any other means.

[Lord Dubs]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for answering the Question. Of course these young offenders can be very difficult people—otherwise they would not be detained—but does he realise that many of us were shocked that this secret manual indicated that it was permissible to inflict pain on young people, some of them as young as 12, in circumstances that led to at least one inquest saying that this represented an unjustified use of force? Would not the right course be to withdraw this document and to produce something publicly that is more humane?

[Lord McNally]

My Lords, since the document was published in 2005, the Government have had a thorough review of it and are in the process of producing new guidelines on restraint and behaviour management designed to replace the existing document. The new system will be assessed by medical and other experts on the new restraint accreditation board. In the mean time, as I said, a new version of the manual is being drawn up and will take account of the changes that have taken place since 2005.