Vulnerable young 'imprisoned as substitue for care' in NI

Vulnerable children in the North have been imprisoned as a substitute for proper social care, a watchdog warned today.

Custody has been used for trivial offences in breach of international safeguards, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland found.

Inappropriate incarceration is more evident than in other parts of the UK, the authority said.

“When unsure how to deal with them they were placed in custody as much for their own safety as in response to their offending behaviour,” the dossier said.

“Such placements breach international safeguards and inappropriate use of custody for children remains a more pronounced problem in Northern Ireland than elsewhere in the UK.”

Inspectors from Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) found that Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre which opened in Bangor, Co Down, in January 2007, was well-managed and provided many examples of good practice.

Their report, Inspection of Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre, said the main concern arose from the high turnover of young people and the fact that a disproportionate number came directly from residential care.

It found that three-quarters of looked-after children (cared for by the state because of abuse, neglect or behaviour problems) who entered secure accommodation had convictions.

“Research suggested that the gatekeeping process for secure care could actually lead to children being placed in the juvenile justice centre if they did not meet the strict secure care criteria; and trivial offences provided the opportunity to use custody as quasicare.

“However, that was not the juvenile justice centre’s purpose and it could be of no benefit for marginalised children to experience custody for insufficient reason.”

Inspectors also heard of good practice with looked-after children who offended and breached bail on numerous occasions but were kept in care rather than transferred to custody.

However, the paper warned: “In many cases courts, social services and children themselves felt they were better off in the juvenile justice centre than living at risk in the community or in residential care.”

A total of 38 recommendations were made including more dialogue with courts to ensure the appropriate use of custody.

Others included:

Children should be given clear explanations of their progress within the regime;

Management should ensure control measures for the distribution and return of sharp implements;

Extra fire safety training should be given to staff every six months.

Chief inspector Kit Chivers recommended that Woodlands improve its methods of capturing data to analyse the offending of children in custody.

“Inspectors found that Woodlands struck a good balance between caring for difficult children, including some dangerous offenders, and addressing their offending behaviour,” he said.

“The new building was found to incorporate many positive design features that enhanced the management and care of children. Management practices, staff training and qualification levels were also much improved from 2004.

“Inspectors were satisfied that education and healthcare were given a high priority, with the majority of young people improving their standard of numeracy, literacy, physical and mental health while in the centre.”

Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins said: “This purpose-built centre has transformed the way in which juvenile custody in being delivered in Northern Ireland.

“This is a particularly challenging environment with some extremely difficult and complex young people, a number of whom have committed very serious offences.”