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Lin Hinnigan, YJB CEO, said:

“HMIP’s thematic on MMPR published last year concluded that MMPR was a good system but needed more time to be embedded.

“MMPR encourages staff within YOIs and STCs to rely on their relationships with the children in their care to manage their behaviour and de-escalate potential conflict situations, so that restraint is only ever used as a last resort. It includes more scrutiny and analysis of incidents, so that staff are helped to learn from them and improve their practice and so that we can continually improve the system to make it safer for children in custody.

“The government recognises that in very limited circumstances the use of pain inducing techniques may be necessary, but this should only be in specific circumstances when absolutely necessary to protect a child, or others from an immediate risk of serious physical harm.

“The YJB feels very strongly that children and young people in custody should be cared for by highly skilled and specialist staff, operating in smaller units across the regions. The review of youth justice provides us with the ideal opportunity to reform the model for secure accommodation of children so that we can more effectively implement MMPR within a reformed system for the benefit of the children in custody.”

Notes to editors

The report is available online on the Howard League website.