News

The mother of a sixteen year old boy who committed suicide while in a young offender institution has called on the government to stop putting children in prison.

Joseph Scholes was just nine days into his sentence for street robbery when he took his own life at Stoke Heath Young Offender Institution in Shropshire in March 2002.

He hanged himself after tying a sheet to the bars of his cell window. He had torn out his fingernails and scratched the word “mum” onto his leg.

His mother, Yvonne, wants a public inquiry. She said that Joseph’s case was not an isolated tragedy but an example of the “long term and ongoing systemic abuse of vulnerable children detained in unsafe conditions within our prison estate”.

She added that while children should be called to account for their wrongdoing, society must respect their needs.

“These most vulnerable of children should receive community based interventions on programmes designed and supervised by people whose attitude is one of respect for the child’s rights,” she said.

However custody may be the only option for some crimes, she said. A network of locally based secure units should be developed for this “very small number of children”, who should be supported by trained staff.

Scholes was speaking at the launch of Back on Track, a campaign by Community Care magazine to reduce the number of children and young people held in custody.

A survey of youth justice workers revealed that nearly seven in 10 had worked with young offenders who had considered or attempted suicide while in prison. More than 90 per cent said that custody worsens existing mental health problems.