Lin Hinnigan, Chief Executive of the Youth Justice Board, said:

This report’s findings are in line with our own monitoring activity in the secure estate. We have a very clear expectation that isolation should primarily be used if a young person poses a risk to themselves or others.

We place children in specific secure establishments according to their needs, and have already reduced the proportion of young people placed in youth offending institutions from around 80% in 2008/9 to 63% in August 2015.

We recognise that young people in custody present complex challenges in behaviour management. The YJB continues to work with the National Offender Management Service to ensure improvements in youth offending institutions, to better address the needs of young people and reduce the use of isolation.

We will carefully study the report’s findings as a contribution to our work to improve the current secure estate.

Background

You can read Isolation and solitary confinement of children in the English youth justice secure estate on the website for the Children’s Commissioner for England