Private van guards to assess whether young are tough enough for adult jails | Society | SocietyGuardian.co.uk

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Private van guards to assess whether young are tough enough for adult jails | Society | SocietyGuardian.co.uk: "Private van guards to assess whether young are tough enough for adult jails


· Experts fear for safety of remand prisoners
· Move to free up space as crowding hits new high

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Monday April 30, 2007
The Guardian

Private security staff who operate prison vans will decide from today whether young adults awaiting trial in London are mentally strong enough to survive in the toughest prisons.

Up to 80 youngsters aged 18 to 20 are to be held on remand in Brixton, Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs prisons while they await trial or sentence alongside some of the most hardened career criminals for the first time from today as the jail system struggles with overcrowding.

Serco private escort officers staffing the vans which move prisoners between courts and prisons in London will decide whether a young adult on remand is too much of a suicide risk to be held at an adult prison and should be sent instead to Feltham young offender institution.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said she was horrified that the private escorts were being entrusted with deciding who might not make it through the night in an adult jail when even experienced mental health professionals struggled to assess the ri"