Plans for Europe’s largest juvenile prison were criticised last night after a new report claimed that jailing children increased the chances of them becoming sex offenders in adulthood.
Hundreds of youngsters are at risk of adult sexual offending because their attempts to form healthy relationships are being damaged by time spent in single-sex detention centres, prison reform campaigners have suggested.
High levels of violence, the use of force by guards and long periods spent locked up made it difficult for children in custody to “develop a healthy sexual identity”, a 15-strong commission set up by the Howard League for Penal Reform said in its fourth report into the issue of sex in prison.
More than 1,000 children are held in custody in England and Wales, with 95 per cent of them boys, and most aged 16 or 17.
“The commission heard that boys learnt to keep their sexual behaviour secret in prison,” said the report. “Punishment for normal sexual behaviours could evoke feelings of guilt or shame for boys in prison and could increase the risk of sexual offending.” Read more
