‘Incredibly vulnerable’ teenage girl pinned down and stripped naked twice by multiple male prison guards, disturbing report reveals
A VULNERABLE teenage girl was twice tied up and stripped naked by ‘several’ male prison officers at a young offenders’ institution, a shocking report has revealed.
The girl was targeted twice at YOI in Wetherby West Yorkshirehome to some of Britain’s most ‘challenging’ children.
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Chief Inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said he is “deeply shocked” by the findings, which followed inspections at the prison last year.
The damning report revealed that the girl was held down and her clothes forcibly removed by adult male officers.
According to law enforcement officials, the guards responded to a life-threatening situation and took action to prevent the girl from harming herself.
They also claimed there were no female staff present because they had previously been assaulted – but the report said there was “no excuse”.
It added: “This is simply not acceptable.”
In the past 12 months, 24 children were searched, with 12 teenagers detained at the time.
Although prison bosses had recorded the decision to carry out the searches, “no one had recorded the authority to exercise restraint”.
The report also found that techniques intended to cause pain were used nine times in the same period in an attempt to restrain the young people.
An independent judgement A panel labeled any time the methods were deliberately used as ‘inappropriate’.
Taylor said: “We were deeply shocked to find adult male officers restraining and undressing an incredibly vulnerable girl not once but twice.
“While they undoubtedly acted to prevent serious harm, the presence of several men holding her down and removing her clothes will have caused further trauma. Given how predictable this particular girl’s behavior was, the YOI has no excuse for not doing this.” certain that female officers were present.”
YOI Wetherby houses 165 ‘complex’ children, who are just as dangerous as men, in a category A prison.
The facility has the “highest rate of self-harm of any prison in the country”, with officers often having to intervene “several times during the night” to stop girls trying to harm themselves, inspectors said.
Girls were especially vulnerable; last year, three female prisoners were responsible for more than half of self-harm cases.
‘Potentially traumatic’ – activists respond to shock report
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said she was “shocked” by the findings and had written to Justice Secretary Alex Chalk to ask how conditions could be improved. She added that too many children were being “locked up instead of being cared for”.
Strip searches are an “intrusive and potentially traumatic force” and should “never” be carried out on children by someone of the opposite sex, she added.
Andrea Coomber, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, which has opposed the decision to detain girls in Wetherby, said: “It is appalling that the state’s care for vulnerable children can sink so low… Some findings call out raises significant concerns about the protection of children. and possible human rights violations.”
While Campbell Robb, chief executive of social justice charity Nacro, called the findings “disturbing” and said the conditions are not how “any child should be treated in a civilized society, no matter what they have done in the past.”
He added: “The government must act immediately to improve the lives of these children and develop a comprehensive improvement plan for all these institutions.”
The Department of Justice said restrictions are applied to children in “rare circumstances” when there is “no alternative to prevent serious harm to the child, other children or staff”.
A spokesperson added: “Custody should always be the last resort for offending children crime and there has been a nearly 70 percent drop in the number of girls in juvenile detention since 2015, compared to an average of just 12 girls in custody last year.
“These small numbers of girls have exceptionally complex needs and require specialist support, which is why YOI Wetherby is providing additional training to staff on self-harm and increasing opportunities for meaningful activities, education and personal development.”