WIREDGOV

Hundreds of children are left in a ‘waiting room’ limbo each year, being unnecessarily locked up in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing – not because they pose the greatest risk, but because the systems designed to support them are failing, the Children’s Commissioner has warned.

• Hundreds of innocent children locked up each year and treated as guilty until proven innocent with custodial remand used as a ‘waiting room’ when wider services fail them
• Most went on to receive either no custodial sentence or had cases dropped – resulting in lengthy and unwarranted time behind bars
• Delivering annual Longford Lecture tonight, Commissioner will warn we have ‘retreated from our moral duty’ and ‘become complacent about children in custody’
• She will call for urgent reforms to youth justice, closing all Young Offender Institutions and increasing use of foster care over custody

Research on the use of custodial remand for children – the process in which young people are held in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing, rather than being released on bail – shows that the majority did not go on to receive a custodial sentence or had their case dropped, despite many facing lengthy and anxious waits on remand.

Dame Rachel de Souza has called for urgent reforms to the youth justice system, including closing all Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) – where multiple inspection reports have warned of violence and serious safeguarding concerns – and instead increasing the use of familial, caring placements in secure homes or specialist foster care.

Delivering this year’s Longford Lecture in central London tonight (Tuesday), Dame Rachel will warn that a generation of children is being let down by society’s failure to provide moral leadership, allowing a vacuum to appear in the services on which children rely – social care, housing, education and justice.

She will urge society not to become ‘complacent’ about children living in custody, highlighting shocking reports of violence and poor staff practice at many youth justice settings in the past year alone: 23 staff members at Oakhill Secure Training Centre were suspended in the past year over allegations about their conduct with children, Feltham YOI was judged ‘the most violent prison in the country’ as recently as July 2024 by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Oasis Secure School was closed temporarily in August 2025 due to safety concerns in the building.

Click here for the full press release