Commenting on revelations in today's Observer newspaper (1) regarding violent practices used against inmates of Britain's young offender institutions, Dr Caroline Lucas MP, leader of the Green Party, said:
"You might have expected behaviour like this in the Soviet Union at its most brutal. But in twenty-first century Britain, this is a national disgrace.
"The manual approved by the Labour government in 2005 describes the gaining of compliance through inflicting pain. This amounts to torture. That this could be happening in Britain, involving children as young as twelve, is truly sickening."
PM must give "urgent assurances" of immediate end to "mediaeval treatment of offenders" - and officials must face court
The MP for Brighton Pavilion continued:
"The prime minister must give urgent assurances that practices like these will immediately be ended.
"But we must go further. There must be a full public inquiry into these barbaric practices. And ultimately, anyone who has broken the law and infringed human rights must be brought to justice.
"We cannot allow practices like this to continue and call ourselves a civilised nation.
"It's a disgrace that the Ministry of Justice has fought for so long to keep this savagery secret. Now the public must be told the full story of what has been done in their name - and Britain must leave this kind of mediaeval treatment of offenders behind once and for all."
HMP manual amounts to "institutionalised child abuse" and "clear breach of human rights", say children's organisations
Today's Observer article by Mark Townsend cites Carolyne Willow, national coordinator of the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), which forced the Ministry of Justice to publish its manual Physical Control in Care, which prescribes a range of violent techniques for handling young offenders in institutions.
Ms Willow says: "The manual is deeply disturbing and stands as state authorisation of institutionalised child abuse. What made former ministers believe that children as young as 12 could get so out of control so often that staff should be taught how to ram their knuckles into their rib cages? Would we allow paediatricians, teachers or children's home staff to be trained in how to deliberately hurt and humiliate children?"
And Phillip Noyes of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) comments: "These shocking revelations graphically illustrate the cruel and degrading violence inflicted at times on children in custody. On occasions these restraint techniques have resulted in children suffering broken arms, noses, wrists and fingers. Painful restraint is a clear breach of children's human rights against some of the most vulnerable youngsters in society and does not have a place in decent society."
The techniques in the manual are so violent that the manual itself warns of fractured skulls, "temporary or permanent blindness caused by rupture to eyeball or detached retina" - and even asphyxiation.
The manual authorises measures such as:
- Driving straight fingers into the child's face and groin.
- Raking shoes down the child's shins.
- Forcing knuckles into the child's sternum, and,
- Making a child kneel, with his forehead held on the floor, while handcuffs are applied behind his back.
The Observer article also describes how the court of appeal has recently declared illegal the "distraction technique" of repeated sharp blows to a child's nose, used in young offender institutions.
Notes
1. The Observer, 18th July 2010, "Revealed: brutal guide to punishing jailed youths"