Government must end use of pain-inducing restraint techniques and solitary confinement of detained children

18 Apr 2019 03:37 PM

The use of pain inducing techniques and solitary confinement of children in detention must be banned, says a new report by the UK Parliament’s Human Rights Committee. These cause physical distress and psychological harm in both the short and longer term, and are clearly not compliant with human rights standards.

Chair of the Committee Harriet Harman MP yesterday said:

“The UK is under international and domestic legal obligations to ensure that children are not subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

“The Government must comply with its legal obligations and ensure that children in detention are not subject to solitary confinement or unnecessary or disproportionate uses of restraint.”

The Committee’s inquiry considered the use of restraint and separation in a range of settings where 2,500 children are detained at any one time: some for care, treatment or welfare reasons, and some because of criminal offences. Most are highly vulnerable, many have multiple challenges. The use of separation and restraint engages rights under the European Convention on Human Rights: Article 2, the right to life; Article 3, prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment; Article 5, the right to liberty and security, Article 8, the right to privacy and family life.

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Committee Chair Harriet Harman MP yesterday said:

“Our inquiry received unanimous evidence from medics, inspectors, lawyers, and staff who work in detention, that restraint and separation are harmful to children and should be avoided if at all possible. This was brought into stark relief by the harrowing evidence we heard from young people, and from parents who told us about the impact on their children.

“Restraint or separation might seem to solve immediate problems in custody or hospital. But both cause short term and long term harm to children. They can contribute to a vicious circle of problems which can continue into the longer term future and even affect life chances into adulthood. Restraint can be painful, cause injuries, be distressing at the time and cause long term psychological harm. It can make a child’s time in detention counterproductive, inhibiting the provision of care, suggesting to children that violence is a way to solve problems, and can compound and reproduce the harms associated with early childhood exposure to abuse neglect and violence.  In some contexts the use of these techniques can amount to inhumane and degrading treatment and should be banned.”

Variety of institutions considered during inquiry

The inquiry considered several different types of institution which, taken together detain around 2,500 children at any one time: some for care, treatment or welfare reasons, and some because of criminal offences. Each type of institution has its own terminology and rules governing the use of restraint and the use of separation from human contact.

Data shows that children are restrained too often, with thousands of unjustified restraints each year, and that separation is also used too often – with rates of restraint and separation even higher for BAME children. The issue is that staff move too quickly to use restraint or separation.  

Harriet Harman MP yesterday said:

“We realise that staff often face difficult situations. They must be supported to use better alternatives wherever possible.

Increased staffing, better training and facilities and a better mix of staffing and skills should increase the range of alternative options so that restraint and separation really are the last resort.”

The inquiry found that for all forms of restraint and separation (whether acceptable or not) data collection is incomplete and there is good reason to believe that these practices are under-reported. Data is presented in ways that make it harder to interpret and the use of different definitions makes it harder to compare between different types of institutions. The report recommends that data collection must be improved, and data about all types of restraint and separation should be published.

Finally, the report concludes that not enough is done to ensure that children in detention are aware of their rights, or what to do if these are breached. Families often do not have full access to evidence that would help in appeals. The Committee recommends more involvement from families in decisions about the children, more proactive roles for independent advocates, more effective debriefs after incidents, and publication of data about appeals and their outcomes.

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