A privately-run secure training centre heavily criticised after the death of 14-year-old Adam Rickwood is reducing the use of restraint, Ofsted has found.
Inspectors gave Hassockfield STC an overall rating of good after an unannounced inspection on 28 October last year. They cited figures showing that restraint use in 2008 was lower than in 2007, except for one month.
Ofsted’s report, published today, said the centre, which is run by Serco, was continuing to change and develop services, with improvement “constantly on the agenda”.
The STC, in County Durham, has been dogged by controversy since 2004 when Adam Rickwood became the youngest person to die in custody in modern penal history. The teenager’s body was found hanging hours after he was restrained.
A second inquest has been ordered into Rickwood’s death after a judge ruled the first one had failed to consider whether staff at Hassockfield were legally authorised to use force against him.
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