‘Unacceptable failure’ at youth jail, minister says

Locking up children in a privately-run youth jail for more than 23 hours a day during the coronavirus pandemic has been branded an “unacceptable failure” by the Justice Secretary.

Robert Buckland made the comments after inspectors called for urgent action to address problems at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre (STC).

In December, Ofsted, the Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP), and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) issued a rare urgent notification (UN) to Mr Buckland over the “continued poor care and leadership” at the site near Rugby in Warwickshire amid concerns vulnerable children were being subjected to a “bleak regime”.

Inspectors found little progress had been made, despite assurances that immediate action would be taken two months earlier amid concerns that newly-admitted children, some as young as 15, were being locked in their bedrooms for 14 days and only allowed out for 30 minutes a day.

He added: “It was absolutely the right measure to take in terms of public health but I think a misuse of those procedures led to the serious issues that we are dealing with today.”

Describing the problem as a “significant” and “unacceptable failure”, he said he would be making sure MTC – which operates the site – would be held to account and this had been a “system issue rather than an individual issue”, adding it was “even more concerning because there seems to have been a system issue which we absolutely need to get to the bottom of and will do with my close scrutiny.”

Though it was not felt this was a “wilful attempt to avoid responsibility or inflict harm on children”, he added.

Inspectors, who wrote to Mr Buckland at the time highlighting a spartan regime where children were given little encouragement to get up in the mornings or have any meaningful engagement with staff, said the site had been judged as requiring improving at every monitoring visit since 2015.

Rainsbrook can hold up to 87 children aged 12 to 17 years, who are serving a custodial sentence or on remand from the courts.

MTC’s managing director Ian Mulholland, who took over the role in January and was not in charge at the time of the inspections, apologised “unreservedly” to the committee and expressed “deep regret” for the “very obvious failings”.

He said he would be focussing on addressing the problems, particularly “longstanding culture issues” and there already had been some improvements at the centre, adding: “We got it wrong, I’m not going to attempt to defend how we got it wrong.

“I am hoping that I can give you some assurance about the things that we will do to make it better going forward.”

Not everything at the centre is “terrible”, he stressed, insisting there is also “really good work” being carried out, adding: “I’m here for the long-term and am committed to running a centre we are proud of.”

Jo Farrar, chief executive of the Prison and Probation service, told MPs the company had faced financial sanctions of £270,000 between May 2019 and April 2020 because of its performance, but this amount was offset against coronavirus relief payments so the overall total stood at £76,000.

Mr Mulholland’s predecessor David Hood has since been promoted to another role in MTC covering international business, the committee heard.

According to the Ministry of Justice, similar problems have not been seen at any other youth jails.