Girl at risk of self-harm restrained and stripped twice by male prison guards

A girl held in a young offenders’ institution (YOI) was pinned down and forcibly stripped twice by a group of male prison guards, according to the prisons watchdog.

Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said he was “deeply shocked” at the findings, which revealed the “incredibly vulnerable” child prisoner had been restrained and had her clothes removed by “multiple men” on two occasions at Wetherby young offenders institution in West Yorkshire.

Holding some of the most “challenging” children in the country, the watchdog likened the “complex group” of youngsters behind bars there to the equivalent of, and being as dangerous as, men in category A adult jails.

Nearly half of the children at Wetherby have previously been in council care and the site has the “highest rate of self-harm of any prison in the country”, with officers often having to intervene “multiple times at night” to stop girls trying to harm themselves, inspectors said.

There had been 892 incidents of self-harm in the past year, the inspector’s report found, with the three girls at Wetherby accounting for half these incidents.

There are a total of seven girls in the youth offender estate in England and Wales. The report added that staff were often having to intervene several times a night to prevent the girls taking their own life.

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Inspectors said that long periods locked alone in cells was not meeting “the needs of these very vulnerable girls”.

Mr Taylor said: “We were deeply shocked to find adult male officers restraining and stripping an incredibly vulnerable girl not once but twice.

“While they no doubt acted to prevent serious harm, the presence of multiple men pinning her down and removing her clothes will have caused further trauma and, given how predictable the behaviour of this particular girl was, the YOI has no excuse not to have made sure that female officers were in attendance.”

During the inspection, carried out in November and December last year, wider concerns about how often child inmates were being strip-searched while being restrained and the use of force against them were also raised.

Some 24 children were strip-searched in the last 12 months, with 12 of those taking place while they were being restrained.

Although prison bosses had recorded the decision to carry out a strip-search, “none had recorded the authority to use restraint”, according to the findings.

Techniques that deliberately cause pain in a bid to restrain a child had been used nine times in the last 12 months but were deemed “inappropriate” on each occasion by an independent review panel.

Mr Taylor said it was a credit to the prison’s governor that “most relationships between staff and children were relatively positive compared with other YOIs”, but added: “It was scarcely credible in a jail holding just 165 children with 24 senior managers and 67 other managers that leaders told us they could not give children frequent, structured contact with staff because of a shortage of officers.”

Campbell Robb, chief executive of social justice charity Nacro, branded the findings “disturbing” and said the conditions are not how “any child should be treated in a civilised society, whatever they have done in the past”.

He added: “These are children who are often vulnerable, traumatised and in many cases have suffered abuse. They need help to address the reasons why they have turned to crime at such a young age. They need support to see a more positive life for themselves. And they need to be given the confidence that they have a future worth working towards.

“The government must act immediately to improve the lives of these children and to lay out a comprehensive improvement plan across all of these institutions.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Custody should always be the last resort for children who commit crime and there has been an almost 70 per cent decrease in the number of girls in youth custody since 2015, averaging just 12 girls in custody last year.

“This small number of girls have exceptionally complex needs and require specialised support, which is why HMYOI Wetherby is providing additional training to staff on self-harm and increasing opportunities for meaningful activity, education and personal development.

“Restraint is only used on children in rare circumstances when there is no alternative to prevent serious harm to the child, other children or staff.”

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.