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Some young people felt that staff often caused young
people to behave violently. They felt that sometimes staff
might goad them by bringing up their offence, giving them
“aggro” or asking them to do things without justification
– this often caused young people to “kick off”. One group
of interviewees in England discussed a particular situation
called “guiding” that could provoke feelings of frustration
and potentially lead to a violent incident. This is where
young people are sent to their room and staff walk closely
along side them, often touching their arms or backs and
telling them to get to their rooms. The interviewees said
that this often caused a situation to escalate into more
violence as the young people got angry with the physical
contact from the staff.
Interviewees in Austria, Cyprus, England and the
Netherlands talked about racism on the part of some prison
guards and police officers. Young people in England said
that they felt that police officers often employed racist
bullying as a means of threatening and humiliating young
people. Similar views were expressed in Cyprus where
young people commented that they were treated with
respect if they had Cypriot identification, whilst non Cypriot
young people were treated differently. One interviewee
suggested that ethnicity gives an extra “excuse” for the
staff or other children in custody to exercise violence.
Another interviewee from Cyprus said: ‘I don’t speak Greek
and when I don’t understand they [staff] shout at me or
punish me’ (Male, 19, Cyprus). Young people in pre-trial
detention in Austria said that some prison guards tended
to be racist and prejudiced towards inmates from different
ethnic backgrounds and said the discriminatory attitudes
held by these individuals needed to be challenged. Similar
complaints were made in the Netherlands – one boy in
particular complained about racism and said that Dutch
boys are favoured over those from other backgrounds.
Staff reactions to violence in custody:
use of force
In England, it was generally agreed that staff would step in
to stop fights and to separate young people. Several young
people were clear that staff had to use restraint as part of
their job, in order to prevent further violence: ‘They jump
up straight away and break it up… They’re just trying to do
their job’ (Male, 15, England). One male said that he thought
using force did prevent young people from getting at each
other and injuring staff (Male, 15, England). Some young
people in England described prison officers in a custodial
setting different from the one they were currently in letting
young people fight and not intervening to stop it: ‘Or you
could be locked up somewhere else, and like the prison
officers will just let you fight until you’re getting beat up…’
(Male, 15, England).
Interviewees in juvenile detention in Austria said that
sometimes prison guards try to break up quarrels between
detainees but on other occasions they watch them fight
each other without intervening. Interviewees in pretrial
custody in Austria explained that staff immediately
intervene in conflict situations and punish the persons
involved. They said that if staff suspect any injuries on one
inmate they question everyone about the incident. If they
discover that someone has been injured by another inmate,
they have to press charges.
When describing how staff intervene to stop violence,
young people in England said that sometimes staff could
use excessive force:
Sometimes it’s not right, they go over
the top a bit… They hurt people.
Male, 16, England
…What they do with the wrists…My wrist could snap easily
if they hold that too tight….Stop that, find a better way to
restrain. (Female, 14, England)
This behaviour was linked to staff exerting power and
control over the young people: ‘because they’ve got keys
and radios they think they can boss us about…’
(Male, 15, England)
Similar views were expressed in the Netherlands, where
interviewees commented on the disproportionate
reaction of staff to an incident. An example was given
whereby a young person is asked to go to his cell but
does not want to. Even if he is not being particularly
aggressive, he can be put in solitary confinement. This
means that the young person is pushed, stripped naked
and put in solitary confinement.
In addition to using excessive force, several young people
felt that staff intervene too quickly and get the ‘wrong end
of the stick’ (Male, 15, England). One group of males in a
secure children’s home talked about “play fighting”. They
said that it was normal for teenage boys to play fight and
be boisterous, but some staff ‘jump on it too quickly’ (Male,
15, England), which can make the situation much worse.
Several young people in the partner countries felt that
staff often respond without taking the time to understand
what is actually happening and that young people get in
trouble even though they were responding to, rather than
instigating, a situation. Young people in the Netherlands
talked about staff jumping to conclusions and intervening
too quickly when an incident takes place:
Putting me in my room all day is bad. Jumping to
conclusions too fast. The fact that I committed a crime
outside does not mean that I am being a criminal here all
day. First something needs to be done before they decide
that we have to go to our room. No judgements straight
away. (Male, 20, the Netherlands)
ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN CUSTODY PAGE 35