Young offenders institutions
Induction

Responsibilities throughout all children’s time in custody

Responsibilities for all those supporting the child include:

The Child’s Plan should move with the child and be the basis for planning interventions to achieve the above. The Lead Professional is responsible for maintaining this plan.

For children subject to Compulsory Supervision Orders (CSOs)

For the duration of the CSO, the duties detailed under concurrent orders must be fulfilled.

Induction

The SPS should make the following arrangements for the child:

All children subject to statutory supervision on release will be referred to prison-based social work.

Children undergo induction to their residential hall and one week induction with the Links Centre to inform them of all aspects of the YOI, roles of certain staff and services that they can access to meet their needs and assist their reintegration.

Families Involvement

Some YOIs offer a family induction session to give family members an understanding of the YOI’s routine and answer questions. There can however be issues with the consistency and availability of induction. The Good Practice Guidance for the Support of Families Affected by Imprisonment, the Framework for the support of families affected by the Criminal Justice System and Rendering Them Visible: A Review of Progress Towards Increasing Awareness and Support of Prisoners’ Families contains guidance about the content and delivery of family induction sessions.

Initial custody reviews

An initial custody review should be held for all children. The type and timescale for initial custody reviews depends on their legal status:

For children entering custody on remand for over seven days or who have been sentenced: reviews should be held within ten working days of the child entering custody, although within 72 hours remains best practice.

For children and young people on seven day remand: a telephone call should be undertaken with the personal officer ASAP.

For children who are looked after by the local authority: reviews should be held within 72 hours as per good practice guidance.

The purposes of initial custody reviews include:

Reviews should be:

Resources for this page