Report shows proportion of black and minority ethnic young men in
young offender institutions in England and Wales has risen
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 October 2011 19.05 EDT
The chief inspector of prisons says conditions in young offender
institutions are deteroriating. Photograph: Paul Doyle / Alamy/Alamy
Young black men now account for nearly 40% of the population of youth
jails in England and Wales, according to a report by the chief
inspector of prisons.
The report, published jointly with the youth justice board, shows that
the proportion of black and other minority ethnic young men in young
offender institutions (YOIs) has risen from 23% in 2006 and 33% in
2009/10 to 39% last year.
The changing demographic profile of the population inside youth jails
in England and Wales also shows an increasing proportion of young
Muslims, up from 13% last year to 16% this year. Foreign national
young men account for a record 6% of the population.
The chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, says young people aged
15 to 18 are being held in deteroriating conditions in the YOI
network, with fewer feeling safe while they are locked up.
The inspection showed that fewer young inmates felt they could tell
someone they were being victimised or believed a member of staff would
take them seriously. Only half said they had done something while they
were inside that would make them less likely to reoffend in the
future.
The report also reveals that more that one-third of the young men had
been physically restrained as part of the disciplinary process at
their YOI. The highest restraint rate – 66% – was at the Keppel unit
at Wetherby, which deals with male teenagers who have not responded to
a "normal" YOI regime. The lowest – 8% – was at the Carlford unit near
Woodbridge, Suffolk, which holds 30 teenage boys serving long
sentences.
The over-representation of young black men in youth jails comes
despite a sharp fall in the number of children and young people in
custody that has already led to the closure of five YOIs, including a
specialist unit for young women.
The total population of the youth justice "secure estate", which
includes eight male YOIs and three specialist units for girls and
young women, continued to fall from 1,977 in March 2010 to 1,822 this
March, before this summer's riots.
Hardwick says, however, that the number of black and minority ethnic
children in custody has not fallen at the same rate as the number of
white children being locked up.
"Between 2007 and 2011 there was a 37% reduction in white children in
custody, compared with a 16% reduction in black and ethnic minority
children," says the report.
The report does not discuss the reasons why young black people make up
an ever greater proportion of the shrinking youth jail population. But
Hardwick does note that an increasing number – 53% now, compared with
39% last year – of young men are being sent to prison for the first
time.
Hardwick said: "This report has highlighted some deterioration in
children and young people's experience of custody. Despite the falling
numbers, this population has well-defined vulnerability and increasing
numbers within minority groups. The need, therefore, to provide these
people with support during their time in custody and in preparation
for their release is as great as ever."
Frances Done, the chair of the youth justice board, which commissions
places in youth prisons, said it would be working with all secure
establishments to make sure that young people's time in custody has
positive results.
The inspection was based on the experience of 1,115 young men and 47
young women in YOIs and specialist units.
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