John Bowden Reports: Restrained ‘by law’

provided by: John Bowden
August 2010 2009

In 2004 15 year old Gareth Myatt died whilst being “restrained” by three members of staff at a privatized children’s prison called Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre in Warwickshire.

In the same year 14 year old Adam Rickwood hanged himself in another privatized children’s jail, Hassockfield Secure Training Centre in Co. Durham.

A Judge later ruled that the guards who “restrained” Adam shortly before his death had used unlawful force on him. Six years later and following a sustained campaign by parents of imprisoned children and groups like the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) a shocking government document detailing control methods used on children, some as young as 12, in custody has been revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.

Published by the Prison Service in 2005 and classified as a restricted government document, the manual provides staff in secure training centres with authorization to inflict physical pain on children with so-called “restraint and self-defence techniques”.

Read full report (PDF file) >

Posted by Alison Leslie on 09/09/2010. Filed under Custody Deaths,Prison Deaths. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry