Staff in children’s prisons have been forbidden to use physical restraint to control disruptive youngsters, after an Appeal Court ruling yesterday.
Three judges quashed a move to broaden the circumstances in which staff could restrain children in secure units, saying that this was a breach of their human rights.
So
how exactly are they to handle the little darlings when they decide to be disruptive…? With kid gloves?
As a result of the ruling, officers in child prisons can use restraint methods only to prevent inmates escaping from custody, causing injury to themselves, damaging property or inciting another inmate to escape or damage property.
Bet it won’t be long before the usual suspects are lobbying to close those ‘loopholes’ too…
This is the thing which gets me about Human Rights. Once you have been convicted of a crime, you should expect no "rights" at all. If you commit a crime, you should expect to be punished in an appropriate way. It really should be as simple as that.
ReplyDeleteFrom the 'Mail' article on this:
ReplyDelete"John Wadham, group director legal, for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: 'The tragic cases of Adam and Gareth show the grave risks the use of restraint techniques bring. It is time for these rules to be changed and the Court of Appeal agrees.
'As the case reveals, the Ministry of Justice has failed young people on two counts. It has allowed staff at secure centres to use unlawful force - in violation of one of our most fundamental rights - and failed to consider the effect of these new rules on young people from ethnic minorities."
Eh...?
How do these new rules affect 'ethnic minorities' differently to anyone else?
Is it not time to amend the Human Rights Act to provide that no-one may invoke a human right, where they have themselves been convicted of an offence as a result of which a third party was denied a human right of the same type.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, if you don't want prison officers to hold you down on the floor against your will, simply exercise your free choice not to assault me.
Does anyone think that I can get a few hundred thousand compensation off my ex-woodwork teacher who used to cane me with a quarter inch dowel, or alternatively, maybe I can sue my father for a similar amount for child abuse when he used to say to me, "Serves you right."
ReplyDelete