To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) juveniles and (b) young adults have been physically restrained in Feltham Young Offenders Institution in each month since January 2008. (261689)

Establishments in the young people's estate, commissioned by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) collect information on the number of Restrictive Physical Interventions (RPI) that occurs each month. In the young adult estate we report on the use of control and restraint. Figures are collected on the number of incidents of restraint that take place, not the number of young people or young adults restrained.

A Report of an Independent Review of the Use of Restraint in Juvenile Secure Settings and the Government's response was published in December 2008. The Report recommended that HMPS provide staff with safe restraint techniques designed especially for young people and which do not reply on pain-compliance. The Government accept this recommendation and NOMS is developing a new Adapted Control and Restraint (C and R) technique specifically for young people which will form part of a comprehensive behaviour management system.

Young People: Data on the number of times Restrictive Physical Intervention (RPI) was used on a young person (15-18 years old) at HMYOI Feltham from January 2008 to January 2009 are shown on the following table:

RPI is a Youth Justice Board (YJB) measure defined as any occasion when force is used with the intention of overpowering or to overpower a young person. Overpowering is defined as “restricting movement or mobility”.

Young adult: Data on the number of times Control and Restraint (C and R) was used on a young adult (18-21 years old) at HMYOI Feltham from January 2008 to January 2009 are shown in the following table:

C and R is used as a last resort in order to bring a violent or refractory prisoner under control and the technique is only applied for as short a time as is possible.