Ministers urged to take over Warwickshire youth jail
Rainsbrook Centre has been criticised in a new report.
Last updated 29th Mar 2021
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is being urged to consider taking over a privately-run youth jail, after Government ministers heard that children were being kept in conditions likened to 'solitary confinement'.
The Commons Justice Committee slammed the promises made by US-based contractor MTC to improve conditions at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre in Warwickshire as 'worth less than the paper they are written on'.
In a report published on Monday, the committee said it was not confident in MTC's ability to deliver recommendations repeatedly made over a period of years by inspectors.
In December, Ofsted, the Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP), and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) issued a rare urgent notification to Justice Secretary Robert Buckland over the 'continued poor care and leadership' at the site near Rugby, amid concerns that 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 after 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.
Committee chairman Sir Bob Neill said:
'The children held at places like Rainsbrook have committed serious crimes and are not always easy to care for or handle. We know that. But these are children - and some of the most vulnerable members of our society.
They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. It is clear this was not happening, and that is unacceptable in the extreme'.
Rainsbrook can hold up to 87 children aged 12 to 17, 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 will be focusing on addressing the problems, particularly 'longstanding culture issues', adding that there have already been some improvements at the centre.
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