1 hour ago
3
Custody is being used as a “waiting room” for hundreds of children who are being unnecessarily locked up while awaiting trial or sentencing due to failing services, the children’s commissioner for England has warned.
Dame Rachel de Souza said many children were being placed in custody not because they posed the greatest risk, but because the systems designed to support them were failing. She called for the closure of all young offender institutions (YOIs) in England.
In the annual Longford Lecture on Tuesday night, de Souza will warn we have “retreated from our moral duty” and become complacent about children in custody.
“We have left a vacuum in the services that children need. We have retreated from our moral duty towards these children. And then we are surprised when they fall down,” she is expected to say.
“Childhood is short and wild and precious. But once you’re remanded into custody your innocence is gone. You see things. You’re told you’re guilty. I am worried that we have become complacent about children in custody. We have treated it as a battle won. We have to close all young offender institutions.”
New research on custodial remand for children – where young people are held in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing, rather than being released on bail – shows that many children are facing lengthy and unwarranted time behind bars.
A report by the commissioner, published on Tuesday, found that in 2023-24, more than half (62%) of all children remanded to custody in England and Wales did not receive a custodial sentence, and 168 children (17%) had their case dismissed altogether.
The commissioner has called for urgent reforms to the youth justice system, including closing all YOIs – where inspection reports have warned of violence and serious safeguarding concerns – and instead increasing the use of placements in secure homes or specialist foster care.
In July, Ofsted reported “serious and systemic failures” at Oakhill Secure Training Centre in Milton Keynes, where 23 staff members have been suspended in the last 12 months over allegations about their conduct with children.
Feltham YOI was deemed “the most violent prison in the country” in July 2024, with teenage inmates refusing family visits to keep their relatives away from danger, and was closed temporarily in August 2025 due to safety concerns in the building.
The commissioner’s research found the average length of time on remand in 2021-22 was 125 nights, up by 89% since 2013-14. More than one in 10 (14%) of remand cases were for more than 182 days, longer than both the custody limit of 56 days at magistrates court and the upper limit of 182 days at crown court.
Children with foster care placements dropped from 13% in 2013-14 to 5% in 2021-22.
The report also found that in 2021-22, more than half (56%) of children remanded were from an Asian, black, mixed or other minority ethnic group. “There is an overrepresentation of black and mixed ethnic groups who receive a custodial remand than what is expected given the ethnicity of the child population,” the report states.
Of all children remanded into custody in 2021-22, a quarter had previously been remanded into custody.
The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.
