New laws should ensure no repeat of Medomsley

THE word evil is used carefully in politics but there are times when it is the only term that helps make sense of an injustice, and the systemic abuse over three decades at the Medomsley Detention Centre near Chopwell is one such appalling example.

- Mary Glindon

Medomsley held young men sentenced or remanded by the courts in the North East from the early 1960s until the late 1980s.

I was one of a few MPs who sought over many years to expose what I was hearing about conditions there and I am pleased that the Prison and Probation Ombudsman has issued a harrowing account of the physical, sexual and psychological abuse endured by so many.

The Government has rightly offered a formal apology to all victims and survivors and recognises the work of MPs.

The abuse often began when detainees arrived and for some continued after the young men had left. Vulnerable victims were often deliberately targeted, including men from ethnic minority backgrounds, who were subjected to appalling racism. Young men were hospitalised after abuse, and there were at least two tragic deaths.

In some cases, there was systematic rape and sexual assault, which involved ritual humiliation and degradation. Many detainees turned to self-harm, drink and drugs, and attempted suicide.