Child deaths in penal custody: beyond individual pathology

Abstract

Three key facts by way of introduction. First, greater use of penal custody for children is made in England and Wales than in most other industrialised democratic countries in the world (Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, 2004). Second, the juvenile inmates of state prisons (Young Offender Institutions) and private jails (Secure Training Centres), routinely comprise some of society's most disadvantaged, distressed and damaged children (Goldson, 2002). Third, 28 children died in penal custody (26 in state prisons and 2 in private jails) in England and Wales between July 1990 and January 2005, and literally thousands more were physically, emotionally and/or psychologically harmed (Goldson and Coles, 2005).