Juvenile offenders ‘locked in windowless rooms’

Locking children in rooms with no furniture or windows behind a heavy metal door as a punishment for misbehaving in a juvenile detention centre has been criticised by the health watchdog.

Inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found two single separation “protection rooms” at Trinity House School (THS) on the Oberstown Campus in Lusk, north Dublin, had been used 67 times in the space of a month to punish children for actions ranging from smoking to refusing to take staff direction to verbal abuse towards staff.

Hiqa said this was in breach of children’s rights and not in line with school policy “which clearly states that the room is only to be used when there is a significant danger to the young person or others or where there is significant damage to property”.