Report into deaths of young people in custody

A new evidence based report examining the experiences and treatment of children and young people who died in prison custody in England and Wales has been published by INQUEST and the Prison Reform Trust.

The report highlights that over the past ten years, 200 children and young people aged 24 and under have died in prison or, in the case of two of the children, imprisoned in a secure training centre.

The report found that the children and young people who died:

• were some of the most disadvantaged in society and had experienced problems with mental health, self-harm, alcohol and/or drugs;
• had significant interaction with community agencies before entering prison yet in many cases there were failures in communication and information exchange between prisons and those agencies;
• despite their vulnerability, they had not been diverted out of the criminal justice system at an early stage and had ended up remanded or sentenced to prison;
• were placed in prisons with unsafe environments and cells;
• experienced poor medical care and limited access to therapeutic services in prison;
• had been exposed to bullying and treatment such as segregation and restraint;
• were failed by the systems set up to safeguard them from harm.

The analysis also found there had been inadequate institutional responses to the deaths of children and young people in prison. Investigations and inquests are subject to lengthy delay and mechanisms are currently inadequate to ensure learning is acted upon by all relevant agencies.