Howard League responds to inspection of Rainsbrook secure training centre

The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to a joint inspection report on Rainsbrook secure training centre in Warwickshire, published today (Tuesday 27 November).

The report – produced jointly by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons – reveals the findings from an inspection conducted in October.

MTCnovo took over the running of the jail, which holds children, from G4S in May 2016.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Children should only be placed in settings where they are safe and where they can flourish. Once again, inspectors have found that Rainsbrook fails this test.

“The safety of children should never arise as a question; it should be a given. And yet, more than a year after Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons declared that there was not a single jail in the country that was safe for a child, and almost three years after a Panorama investigation exposed abuse in another secure training centre holding children, we continue to see reports such as this.

“It is disgraceful that, after all that has been said and done, the youth courts and the Ministry of Justice are still placing children in institutions where they are not safe.

“The Howard League opposed the creation of secure training centres in the 1990s and warned that children would be damaged and hurt in these institutions. A long line of inspection reports has underlined that this is a failed model of detention. After 30 years of children being mistreated, it is time to put an end to this.”

Notes to editors

1. The Howard League for Penal Reform is the oldest penal reform charity in the world. It is a national charity working for less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison.

2. A copy of the Rainsbrook secure training centre inspection report can be found online.

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