Fight to ban solitary confinement for children
A 15-year-old boy was locked up alone for 55 days despite having mental health problems, consequently solitary confinement for child offenders faces a legal challenge in the Supreme Court.
The test case comes amid growing calls by prison watchdogs and leading health bodies, including the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, for the Government to ban solitary confinement for children.
The teen, who had been sentenced to a year's detention for assaults on prison officers, was barred from any contact with other children, had only limited contact with adults, and was held in his cell at Feltham Young Offenders Institution, West London, for more than 23 hours a day.
He ate alone in his cell, had no psychological treatment, had no access to a gym, and received no education and or any purposeful activity.
The young inmate will be represented by the charity the Howard League for Penal Reform, who will argue the conditions of his detention in Feltham were in breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and constituted inhuman or degrading treatment.
The Howard League's chief executive, Frances Crook, said: "This important and upsetting case is among the worst that we have seen."
The youth's treatment was initially ruled unlawful in the High Court before being overturned in the Court of Appeal. The Government's legal team is led by Sir James Eadie QC, who takes on the most important cases brought against ministers.
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Chesterfield,
Derbyshire,
S40 1RX
01246 520930