Inspectors have taken emergency action over the “bleak regime” at a privately run prison for children, after calls to halt the detention of the young inmates in near solitary confinement were ignored.
Three inspectorates have issued a rare “urgent notification” to the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, over the continued poor care and leadership at Rainsbrook secure training centre (STC) near Rugby, run by MTC.
It is the first time the power has been used since July 2019, and the first time in relation to STCs, which hold 12- to 18-year-olds. The urgent notification requires Buckland to set out how he will address the concerns within 28 days.
Ministers said they have stopped sending children to Rainsbrook while urgent action was taken.
During an October inspection, Ofsted, HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP), and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that, owing to Covid-19 health guidelines, newly admitted children – some as young as 15 – were being locked in their bedrooms for 14 days, and allowed out for only 30 minutes a day.
The inspectors said despite assurances that immediate action would be taken, a further monitoring visit in December found little progress had been made.
Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, said: “Rainsbrook was warned that its treatment of newly admitted children was unacceptable, yet these concerns have been ignored. Some of the most vulnerable children are being locked up for days on end, with little thought about their safety or wellbeing. Leaders and government must act now to address this.”
In a letter to Buckland, the inspectors said they uncovered a spartan regime where “children were given little encouragement to get up in the mornings or have any meaningful engagement with staff”.
The findings included:
Five recently admitted children independently told inspectors they had been locked into their bedrooms for substantial periods of time.
One boy was placed on an “incorrect management plan” because of miscommunications about his medical vulnerabilities. Between 26 November and 10 December, this child spent only four hours out of his room in total.
Although education work packs were issued to children confined to their rooms, record-keeping was poor and there was no evidence that children’s education entitlement was being met.
Buckland was told in the urgent notification letter that the findings “provide little confidence in the centre’s capacity to improve the care, wellbeing and safety of children”.
The justice minister, Lucy Frazer, said: “These findings are incredibly concerning and disappointing, particularly as MTC gave repeated assurances that they would act on previous warnings. We have immediately stopped placing young people at Rainsbrook and have appointed additional, experienced management staff to oversee the swift and thorough improvements we are demanding.”
MTC said: “We recognise there is more work to do to improve the centre and we do accept more should have been done during this challenging period. We understand what changes we need to make to ensure this does not happen again.”
