Adam Rickwood, at 14 years old, had been in trouble with the law, but it was still a shock to him and to his family when he was remanded to a privately run jail for children. He had been detained for a month when he had an altercation with staff and had his privileges withdrawn because his mother had tried to smuggle in cigarettes for him. Four staff used physical and painful force to restrain him. He hanged himself later that night. He was the youngest person to die in one of our penal institutions.

Gareth Myatt, 15, died while he was being physically restrained by three staff in jail. He had refused to clean the sandwich maker. He tried to tell the staff that he could not breathe, but they did not release him and he choked on his own vomit as they held him down.

The Howard League for Penal Reform has represented hundreds of children who have experienced staff using painful restraints to get them to do as they are told. Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC, was commissioned by the charity to carry out an independent investigation into the practice and he discovered that restraint had been used 3,000 times on only a couple of hundred children in private prisons.

It became clear that physical restraint to secure compliance was unlawful, but, instead of prohibiting the practice, the Government moved to change the rules to allow jail staff to use pain for everyday control. A review failed to completely rule out the use of pain-inducing restraint.

Why would staff in closed children's institutions want to use physical intervention, including inflicting pain, on children so frequently? Is it as simple as poor management, or that they do not have the skills to defuse conflict and get good behaviour from the children? We know that few of the staff have professional qualifications in dealing with children.

The ready recourse to violence gives the message that this is an appropriate way to deal with problems. These children have experienced domestic and gang violence and they need expert guidance to learn that human relations need not be like that.

Part of the problem is that prisons have few facilities for exercise or ways for teenagers to let off steam. Many children in penal custody have experienced neglect or abuse and have a range of educational and mental health needs. They have experienced capricious parenting and disjointed interventions from authorities. They are challenging teenagers who require skilled, patient and loving handling. They have committed offences and are likely to continue — more than 80 per cent of children released from these child jails are reconvicted, often of more serious offences.

Prisons were not designed for children. Children who offend should receive tailored community support, including innovative solutions such as intensive fostering. Restraint should be banned. For those few who must be imprisoned as a matter of public protection, the only form of custody that should be used is a local authority-run secure children's home. Private jails and young offenders institutions are failing to help children to address their needs and are failing the public, who suffer the consequences with increased crime.

Frances Crook is director of the Howard League for Penal Reform

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