Howard League responds to inspection of Medway secure training centre.
13 Jun 2017
The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to a joint
inspection report on Medway secure training centre in Kent, published
today (Tuesday 13 June).
The report – produced jointly by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons – concludes that Medway, which holds children as young as 13, is unsafe.
Medway became notorious in January 2016, when a BBC Panorama documentary made allegations of child abuse at the jail. Criminal proceedings in relation to this investigation are ongoing.
The National Offender Management Service (since replaced by Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service) took over the running of the jail from G4S last summer.
There were problems with how the jail, police and the local council worked together on safeguarding.Violence and use of force had risen, but violent incidents were not recorded accurately.
Inspectors report that “upskilling the workforce, the vast majority of which were G4S employees, is a significant challenge”. The jail is struggling to recruit staff, and generic job adverts have been used, advertising positions for prison officers, not specifically for secure care officers for those aged under 18.
The governor told inspectors that employment history and past performance information relating to staff who were employed by G4S was not available to him. Inspectors describe this as a “serious shortfall” as it means that staff who may have experienced disciplinary or capability measures no longer have this information on their employment records.
Most staff and managers at Medway have little understanding of risks to young people, such as child sexual exploitation and radicalisation.
The report – produced jointly by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons – concludes that Medway, which holds children as young as 13, is unsafe.
Medway became notorious in January 2016, when a BBC Panorama documentary made allegations of child abuse at the jail. Criminal proceedings in relation to this investigation are ongoing.
The National Offender Management Service (since replaced by Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service) took over the running of the jail from G4S last summer.
Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said:
“Almost 18 months have passed since the BBC’s shocking Panorama documentary, and yet today we read another awful report on Medway, which is clearly unfit to look after children.
“The Howard League opposed the creation of secure
training centres in the 1990s and warned that children would be damaged
and hurt in these institutions. For many years independent inspectors’
findings have underlined that this is a failed model of detention. After
30 years of children being mistreated ,
it is time to put an end to this.
“The G4S years were disastrous. Unfortunately,
running Medway in the public sector does not appear to have made much
difference. Children are still being placed in this jail, despite there
being empty beds in the well-run local authority units.
“I shall be visiting the jail later this week to find out for myself.”
Inspectors visited the jail in March and found it to be unsafe.
Security arrangements remained inadequate. Child protection records were
incomplete. Areas of the jail where children reported feeling unsafe,
such as stairwells and the education block, were not covered by CCTV.There were problems with how the jail, police and the local council worked together on safeguarding.Violence and use of force had risen, but violent incidents were not recorded accurately.
- Inspectors found that no records had been kept at the jail for several months from July 2016, although the Youth Justice Board was still receiving data at the time. Body-worn cameras had been issued to all staff, but they were not always switched on when they should have been.
Inspectors report that “upskilling the workforce, the vast majority of which were G4S employees, is a significant challenge”. The jail is struggling to recruit staff, and generic job adverts have been used, advertising positions for prison officers, not specifically for secure care officers for those aged under 18.
The governor told inspectors that employment history and past performance information relating to staff who were employed by G4S was not available to him. Inspectors describe this as a “serious shortfall” as it means that staff who may have experienced disciplinary or capability measures no longer have this information on their employment records.
Most staff and managers at Medway have little understanding of risks to young people, such as child sexual exploitation and radicalisation.
- The Howard League for Penal Reform is the oldest penal reform charity in the world. It is a national charity working for less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison.
- A copy of the Medway secure training centre inspection report can be found online.
Prison have little understandings of Hidden Inpairments To: Justine Greening Secretary of State for Education.The right to a diagnoses and rapid interventions for those with hidden differences
I am seeking the Secretary of State for
Education to make changes for non-compliant schools to be reprimanded,
downgraded or even fined, delaying or deny child the right to :-
• Free Diagnoses, rapid interventions, and services that should accompany such a diagnosis.
• Review SEND Provisions •Teaching staff to have mandatory in depth SEND training.
All primary teaching and teaching assistant staff to have quality training in teaching all aspects of reading from decoding to comprehension.
•That All educational institutions and Local Education Authorities comply with the Disability Discrimination Act as families are being let down.
•Legislation and the Code of Practice is not enough on its own • we need an understanding of what quality teaching is and a review of a new transparent system. • Vital that Practitioners are part of the solution.
Intervention for children to be taken seriously and in a prompt time frame .currently those seeking intervention or assessment are enduring unnecessary battle or delays causing many to give up• children and parents to be included in all discussion and decisions making and no longer seen as the agitators •Complaints are dealt with promptness. Sen children are 7 times more likely to be excluded we need to ask questions?
• For adults Free assessments based on income
The parents are not convinced it is going as well as the government claim!
I Care about this issue because children and adults continue to struggle.An undiagnosed person with a hidden difference such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Asperger’s …….
• Free Diagnoses, rapid interventions, and services that should accompany such a diagnosis.
• Review SEND Provisions •Teaching staff to have mandatory in depth SEND training.
All primary teaching and teaching assistant staff to have quality training in teaching all aspects of reading from decoding to comprehension.
•That All educational institutions and Local Education Authorities comply with the Disability Discrimination Act as families are being let down.
•Legislation and the Code of Practice is not enough on its own • we need an understanding of what quality teaching is and a review of a new transparent system. • Vital that Practitioners are part of the solution.
Intervention for children to be taken seriously and in a prompt time frame .currently those seeking intervention or assessment are enduring unnecessary battle or delays causing many to give up• children and parents to be included in all discussion and decisions making and no longer seen as the agitators •Complaints are dealt with promptness. Sen children are 7 times more likely to be excluded we need to ask questions?
• For adults Free assessments based on income
The parents are not convinced it is going as well as the government claim!
I Care about this issue because children and adults continue to struggle.An undiagnosed person with a hidden difference such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Asperger’s …….
Why is this important?
An undiagnosed person with a hidden difference such
as dyslexia dyspraxia Aasbergers or other commonly experienced a sense of not really knowing
who you are.If nobody tells the person that there is a reason for their
difficulties, there is a tendency to label themselves as dumb, thick
and stupid.
The difficulties can become harder to manage in secondary school and when children begin to fail they can become very vulnerable and on edge. These feelings can stay throughout life.
The frustration of prolonged failure on a range of curriculum subjects at school, resulting in feelings of insecurity and lack of confidence, can have profound effects upon social status, friendship patterns, and acceptance and adjustment in new settings. Aggressive and antisocial behaviour may result from these tensions. Stress and insecurity can lead to a prominence of information processing difficulties. When dealing with problems, may adopt strategies of avoidance and self blaming.
To the person who experiences them, these emotions often feel bewildering and shaming. Inevitably the emotional consequences are lack of confidence, frustration, even depression.
Feeling of been let down by other people who should have recognised the difficulties or be more sympathetic to them; that they have consequently lost opportunities for study having a diagnoses this could of been avoid with a simple diagnosis which is important it allow a child / adult to understand where the difficulties lie and if there are any further difficulties overlapping and this is necessary for the correct accommodation.
Despite everything we know about dyslexia through research, many children are denied screening.
And many more, once diagnosed,are denied the services that should accompany such a diagnosis."
School’s reason for denial .
• Wrongly points to the limited resources (financial or expertise) of the child’s school.
But that is not the entire picture. Putting aside appropriate resource challenges, the educational change necessary to support this vulnerable group of students often transcends financial issues.
In fact, some (not all) of the most significant changes are actually free and actually only require instructional and attitudinal shifts.
No wonder no one wants to diagnose children when there is a shortage of individuals trained to Provide with necessary instruction.
• Lack intervention causes depression anxiety and suicide.
• Lack of of proper intervention can affect future Job prospects, and behaviour which can lead to the prison pipeline.
We want to enable those with children / adults to reach their potential to develop in the work force.
Parents often delay getting their kids the help they need because the school denies screening for diverse reasons . Unfortunately, if they get it the “wait and hope” approach is rarely effective and has a costly impact on children: Navigating the public school bureaucracy to secure special attention often takes months or years.
Meanwhile, children are falling further behind during the critical early-education period.
Public school teachers, principals and staff are well-intentioned, but the system is broken. Most schools don’t have the resources . Waiting for the school to test and treat your dyslexic child is a “race to the bottom” and an enormous disservice to your language-challenged child.
By the time your child is far enough behind to qualify for a public school evaluation, you have a bigger problem on your hands. What was a manageable academic challenge for your 1st grader can turn into a significant emotional and social problem by the 3rd grade. You are likely to hear your child say things like
“I’m never going to get this,” “All my friends read better than I do,” “I hate this,” “School is not for me,” “I’m stupid.”
Children with Dyslexia Despraxia Abergers.... do not “catch up” without specialized and explicit instruction. Such children don’t “just need a little extra practice” or a tutor; they need a specific type of teaching designed for the unique learning patterns of the brain.
Some students often treat every word as a sight word and memorize it, instead of using the word’s structure to decode and understand it. Later in life , demands, this memorization strategy will fail them.
While you are hoping for dyslexia help from the school, your child is losing ground—falling behind with reading and writing skills that are fundamental to all learning.
Many school teachers and administrators wish they could provide more help for struggling, but they lack resources and training to do so. Few parents understand what they are getting themselves into if they try to navigate the school system as an academic lifeline for their struggling student.
Many with hidden disabilities may not recognise their difficulties as Dyslexia Dyspraxia Asbergers or other.... . Even if they understand the nature of their difficulties, they may not know how to present these in a way that allows other people to help them.
In the end, the anxiety about the difficulties is as much the problem as the actual difficulties themselves and a vicious circle of anxiety and inefficiencies evolves from which there seems no escape.A lack of school, job or social success is likely to add to this emotional burden .
A diagnosis is an understanding of the difficulties, by and large, brings a sense of relief even wellbeing , as all the bewildering inefficiencies can be brought into a consistent picture and this helps to explain problems in a clear and confident way.key to Dyslexia ,Dyspraxia and Asbergers ..... is Early intervention know one should go unnoticed.
The difficulties can become harder to manage in secondary school and when children begin to fail they can become very vulnerable and on edge. These feelings can stay throughout life.
The frustration of prolonged failure on a range of curriculum subjects at school, resulting in feelings of insecurity and lack of confidence, can have profound effects upon social status, friendship patterns, and acceptance and adjustment in new settings. Aggressive and antisocial behaviour may result from these tensions. Stress and insecurity can lead to a prominence of information processing difficulties. When dealing with problems, may adopt strategies of avoidance and self blaming.
To the person who experiences them, these emotions often feel bewildering and shaming. Inevitably the emotional consequences are lack of confidence, frustration, even depression.
Feeling of been let down by other people who should have recognised the difficulties or be more sympathetic to them; that they have consequently lost opportunities for study having a diagnoses this could of been avoid with a simple diagnosis which is important it allow a child / adult to understand where the difficulties lie and if there are any further difficulties overlapping and this is necessary for the correct accommodation.
Despite everything we know about dyslexia through research, many children are denied screening.
And many more, once diagnosed,are denied the services that should accompany such a diagnosis."
School’s reason for denial .
• Wrongly points to the limited resources (financial or expertise) of the child’s school.
But that is not the entire picture. Putting aside appropriate resource challenges, the educational change necessary to support this vulnerable group of students often transcends financial issues.
In fact, some (not all) of the most significant changes are actually free and actually only require instructional and attitudinal shifts.
No wonder no one wants to diagnose children when there is a shortage of individuals trained to Provide with necessary instruction.
• Lack intervention causes depression anxiety and suicide.
• Lack of of proper intervention can affect future Job prospects, and behaviour which can lead to the prison pipeline.
We want to enable those with children / adults to reach their potential to develop in the work force.
Parents often delay getting their kids the help they need because the school denies screening for diverse reasons . Unfortunately, if they get it the “wait and hope” approach is rarely effective and has a costly impact on children: Navigating the public school bureaucracy to secure special attention often takes months or years.
Meanwhile, children are falling further behind during the critical early-education period.
Public school teachers, principals and staff are well-intentioned, but the system is broken. Most schools don’t have the resources . Waiting for the school to test and treat your dyslexic child is a “race to the bottom” and an enormous disservice to your language-challenged child.
By the time your child is far enough behind to qualify for a public school evaluation, you have a bigger problem on your hands. What was a manageable academic challenge for your 1st grader can turn into a significant emotional and social problem by the 3rd grade. You are likely to hear your child say things like
“I’m never going to get this,” “All my friends read better than I do,” “I hate this,” “School is not for me,” “I’m stupid.”
Children with Dyslexia Despraxia Abergers.... do not “catch up” without specialized and explicit instruction. Such children don’t “just need a little extra practice” or a tutor; they need a specific type of teaching designed for the unique learning patterns of the brain.
Some students often treat every word as a sight word and memorize it, instead of using the word’s structure to decode and understand it. Later in life , demands, this memorization strategy will fail them.
While you are hoping for dyslexia help from the school, your child is losing ground—falling behind with reading and writing skills that are fundamental to all learning.
Many school teachers and administrators wish they could provide more help for struggling, but they lack resources and training to do so. Few parents understand what they are getting themselves into if they try to navigate the school system as an academic lifeline for their struggling student.
Many with hidden disabilities may not recognise their difficulties as Dyslexia Dyspraxia Asbergers or other.... . Even if they understand the nature of their difficulties, they may not know how to present these in a way that allows other people to help them.
In the end, the anxiety about the difficulties is as much the problem as the actual difficulties themselves and a vicious circle of anxiety and inefficiencies evolves from which there seems no escape.A lack of school, job or social success is likely to add to this emotional burden .
A diagnosis is an understanding of the difficulties, by and large, brings a sense of relief even wellbeing , as all the bewildering inefficiencies can be brought into a consistent picture and this helps to explain problems in a clear and confident way.key to Dyslexia ,Dyspraxia and Asbergers ..... is Early intervention know one should go unnoticed.
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