Locking up children is not the answer to solving the 'waiting room' of care

LOCKING children up in custody must never be used as a “waiting room” when their real needs are care, housing or mental health support, England’s Children’s Commissioner has warned.

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Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel De Souza said young offender institutions like Foston Hall should be shut down over time

There were some 430 children in custody at any one time during the year to March 2024, according to the latest Government figures.

While this is a fall of 3% against the previous year and the lowest number on record, Dame Rachel de Souza said all young offender institutions should be shut down over time and replaced by a new youth justice system “based primarily upon a rehabilitative model of care”.

Dame Rachel, who is delivering the annual Longford lecture on Tuesday evening, is expected to warn that remanding children into custody takes their innocence and they are essentially told from that point they are guilty.

Her new report into the issue referenced Government data showing that, in the year ending March 2024, almost two thirds (62%) of children remanded to youth detention accommodation did not go on to be handed a custodial sentence.

Of all those children who were not given a custodial sentence, having already been locked up while awaiting trial, more than a quarter (28%) were acquitted or had their case dismissed, while 72% were given a noncustodial sentence.