Youth Offending

Custody

Secure estate for children and young people

When no alternative is appropriate, due to the seriousness of the offence, the history of the offender or the risk to the public, young people who offend will be sentenced to custody.

There are 3 types of secure accommodation in which a young person can be placed. Together the following make up the secure estate for children and young people:

Secure training centres
Secure children's homes
Young offender institutions

The main custodial sentence is the Detention and Training Order, but for more serious offences a young person will be given a sentence under Section 90/91.

Helplines available to young people, who are in or have just left custody, are listed on our Advice for Young People in Custody page.

Detention and Training Order

The Detention and Training Order sentences a young person to custody. It can be given to 12-17 year-olds. The length of the sentence can be between 4 months and 2 years.

The first half of the sentence is spent in custody while the second half is spent in the community under the supervision of the youth offending team. The court can require the young person to be on an Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme as a condition of the community period of the sentence.

A Detention and Training Order is only given by the courts to young people who represent a high level of risk, have a significant offending history or are persistent offenders and where no other sentence will manage their risks effectively.

The seriousness of the offence is always taken into account when a young person is sentenced to a Detention and Training Order.

Section 90/91

If a young person is convicted of an offence for which an adult could receive at least 14 years in custody, they may be sentenced under Section 90/91. This sentence can only be given in the Crown Court.

If the conviction is for murder, the sentence falls under Section 90, otherwise the sentence will be under Section 91. The length of the sentence can be anywhere up to the adult maximum for the same offence, which for certain offences may be life.

A young person given a Section 90/91 sentence will be placed in custody.

If they are sentenced to less then 4 years, they will leave custody at the halfway point of their sentence and be supervised on licence by their supervising officer until the ¾ point. If certain conditions apply, the young person may be released on a tag up to 134 days earlier, under the Home Detention Curfew scheme.

For young people sentenced to 4 years or more, if they are successful at their parole hearing, they will leave custody at the half-way point. If they are unsuccessful, they will leave at the 2 thirds point. In both cases, they will be supervised by their supervising officer until the ¾ point.

Secure Training Centres

Secure Training Centres are purpose-built centres for young offenders up to the age of 17. They are run by private operators under contracts, which set out detailed operational requirements. There are 4 secure training centres in England.

Oakhill in Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire
Hassockfield in Consett, County Durham
Rainsbrook in Rugby, Northamptonshire
Medway in Rochester, Kent

They house vulnerable young people who are sentenced to custody or remanded to secure accommodation. They provide a secure environment where they can be educated and rehabilitated.

They differ from Young Offender Institutions in that they have a higher staff to young offender ratio and are smaller in size, which means that individuals' needs can be met more easily. At the same time they remain large enough to be able to provide a range of facilities.

The regimes in secure training centres are constructive and education-focused. They provide tailored programmes for young offenders that give them the opportunity to develop as individuals which, in turn, will help stop them re offending. Trainees are provided with formal education 25 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year.

All services related to the operation of an secure training centre are provided on-site, including all education and training, primary healthcare, dentistry, and services to address the young person's offending behaviour (including input from mental health and social care professionals).

To facilitate the young person's rehabilitation into the community, secure training centres have a dedicated team of people working on fostering links with the young person's home community. This is particularly useful in creating educational and employment opportunities on release.

Young offender institutions

Young offender institutions are facilities run by both the Prison Service and the private sector and can accommodate 15-21 year olds.

The Youth Justice Board is only responsible for placing young people under 18 years of age in secure accommodation. Consequently, some of these institutions accommodate older young people than secure training centres and secure children's homes. The Youth Justice Board commissions and purchases places for under-18s (i.e. 15-17 year olds), who are held in units that are completely separate from those for 18-21 year olds.

Young offender institutions generally have lower ratios of staff to young people than secure training centres and secure children's homes and accommodate larger numbers of young people.

Consequently, they are less able to address the individual needs of young people and are generally considered to be inappropriate accommodation for vulnerable young people with high risk factors, such as mental health or substance misuse needs.

Advice and support for young people in custody

Advocacy services

The Youth Justice Board contracts 2 national children's charities to provide advocacy services and give a voice to children and young people being held in secure training centres or young offender institutions.

These services are child-led and confidential, and intended to assist young people in accessing available services and resolving any issues affecting their care, through the appropriate use of existing procedures.

Under-18s in custody at a young offender institution in the North East, North West, East and East Midlands or South East, or Hassockfield Secure Training Centre, should ring the National Youth Advocacy Service helpline on 0800 616 101 for help or advice.

Under-18s in custody at a prison in London, South West and Wales, West Midlands or Yorkshire and Humberside, or Medway, Rainsbrook or Oakhill Secure Training Centres, should ring the Voice helpline on 0808 800 5792 for help or advice.

Other services

Howard League advice line

This advice line is a freephone number, 0808 801 0308, available Tuesday and Wednesday, 11am to 5pm, and Thursday 11am to 7pm. It is intended for use by under 18s in custody who have legal issues that may require the Howard League's assistance.

The Howard League is a penal reform charity that takes on individual cases, advising and representing children in custody, as well as providing legal advice and assistance to the professionals working with them.

Nacro helpline

The crime reduction charity, Nacro has a freephone number that prisoners and ex-offenders can call for information and advice on resettlement - 0800 0181 259.

Prisoners, ex-offenders, their friends and family and anyone else dealing with them should call Nacro's Resettlement Plus Helpline on 020 7840 64641 for advice. Nacro also has an email address, available for all - helpline@nacro.org.uk.