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19 December 2005 Death of Gareth Myatt A death Gareth Myatt aged 15 died at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre in Northants on 19 April 2004. The initial police investigation revealed that he died while being restrained by 3 staff members - 2 male and one female. Gareth was aged 15. His photo on the BBC site certainly shows a slightly built young man. Gareth was not a toughie. The CPS has decided today that no charges will follow from his death. No culprits The hold used on Gareth, which has according to a report in Society Guardian 26 September 2005, now been permanently banned is called the 'double-seated embrace'. It involves two adult staff members placed either side of a child - each staff member takes the arm on their side and reaches around the body to also take hold of the arm on the other side. It only takes a moment to realise that this is a suffocation hold; forget the arms, the effect will be squeezing the rib cage or abdomen - leading to breathing difficulties. Despite this the CPS finds no one can be charged. What are we supposed to conclude? It was a mistake? Seems to be taking a child's life pretty lightly to me. Glowing praise for Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre Rainsbrook is one of 4 Secure Training Centres built to lock-up 12-17 year olds (originally it was 12-14 year olds) under the auspices of the Prisons service. The view was the Local Authority Secure accommodation was a soft touch. Rainsbrook is run for profit by Rebound, a division of GSL, an international facilities management company, who also run the Medway Secure Training Centre in Kent. In 2003, a report into Rainsbrook by the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) found that: "The third annual inspection undertaken by the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) of the 76-place STC near Rugby found that it provides a regime that gives young people every chance of reducing or eradicating their offending behaviour. It certainly did that in the case of Gareth Myatt, by the simple expedient of eradicating him. Lord Warner, Chairman of the Youth Justice Board, said: “The SSI report on Rainsbrook STC shows how far these privately run facilities have come since they were widely criticised as a concept in the world of child care less than a decade ago.
I don't know what Gareth Myatts crimes were. Whatever they were he deserved better than to be sent to jail and die at the age of 15. To some extent at least it isn't perhaps the fault of the guards; the context has been set as one of guards and inmates. This was the result of transferring responsibility for vulnerable young 'offenders' (35% of the inhabitants at the similar Medway jail came from care) to the prisons service rather than Local Authority care. And I would suggest the problem is magnified many times over by the fact the children's jail is run for profit - by a company whose expertise is in security, not child care. In Local Authority care there is at least the possibility for the kind of human relationships to form that cannot form when the situation is framed as a penitentary. In a caring relationship restraint techniques of this order would not be necessary. The guards were no doubt applying their training. A training designed to control violent prisoners - not in my view suitable to contain vulnerable children. Some useful links
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