Secretary of State for Justice Concedes the Howard League for Penal Reform’s High Court Challenge to the Unlawful Separation of Children at Oakhill Secure Training Centre
In spring 2025, Law for Change supported the Howard League for Penal Reform in its legal challenge against an unlawful policy at Oakhill Secure Training Centre. We provided adverse costs protection, ensuring the charity would not face heavy legal costs if the case was unsuccessful.
The challenge focused on Oakhill’s “Removal from Association” policy, which allowed staff to lock and isolate children in their rooms for longer than the law permits. After the High Court granted permission for the case to proceed, the Secretary of State for Justice conceded the claim and agreed to change the policy to ensure it was in line with the law.
The Importance of This Challenge
Oakhill’s interpretation of the policy put children at risk of being indefinitely locked and isolated in their rooms. This was particularly concerning given that 35% of young people at Oakhill have mental health issues, with many more presenting complex needs and histories of significant trauma.
Isolation can seriously harm children’s health and wellbeing. In its 2019 submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the British Medical Association (BMA) warned that even short periods of isolation can trigger paranoia, anxiety and depression, while prolonged isolation significantly increases the risk of suicide.
“The BMA, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health believe that children and young people detained in the youth justice system in the UK should never be subject to solitary confinement.
As children are still in the crucial stages of developing socially, psychologically and neurologically, there are serious risks of solitary confinement causing long-term psychiatric and developmental harm.”
The situation at Oakhill reflects broader systemic failures across secure training centres to safeguard children. The dangers of such policies were made painfully clear by the death of 14-year-old Adam Rickwood, who died by suicide in August 2004 after being confined to his room at Hassockfield Secure Training Centre in County Durham. He became the youngest person to die in UK custody in the modern era.
Acutely aware of the risks Oakhill’s policy posed, the Howard League acted decisively, initiating legal proceedings rather than waiting for a child to fall victim to the unlawful practice:
“We did not want to have to wait for a child or young person to be made subject to an unlawful policy, not least because they were unlikely to be aware that their treatment is unlawful. In our experience, children and young people are also much less likely to complain about their treatment in custody than adults.”
– Sinead MacCann, Managing Solicitor, The Howard League for Penal Reform
Removal from Association
Oakhill is one of only two secure training centres in the UK providing accommodation for young men and women who are either serving a custodial sentence or have been remanded to custody by the courts. It accommodates around 80 young people aged 12 to 19.
Under the Secure Training Centre Rules 1998, Oakhill implemented the “Removal from Association” policy - a form of solitary confinement in which children are locked alone in their rooms and supervised from behind the door.
While removal from association is permitted by law, the Rules stipulate that children must not be locked in their rooms for more than three hours within a 24-hour period.
However, an Ofsted investigation in December 2024 found that Oakhill’s policy allowed staff to lock children in their rooms inappropriately, with “a small number kept away from others for significant periods, sometimes for many days.”
Following these findings, the Howard League wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice, arguing that Oakhill’s policy was unlawful and unsupported by legislation. During pre-action correspondence, the Secretary of State for Justice appeared to endorse Oakhill’s interpretation, suggesting it was lawful to confine a child for more than three hours provided a member of staff checked on them every 15 minutes.
The Howard League was dissatisfied with this position and issued judicial review proceedings against the Secretary of State for Justice in August 2025.
A Welcome Policy Change - Secretary of State for Justice Concedes Claim
After the High Court granted permission and set a hearing date for November 2025, the Secretary of State for Justice conceded the claim. They accepted that the law does not permit children held in secure training centres to be left alone in their rooms for more than three hours.
The Secretary of State has committed to ensuring that children are only separated from their peers in accordance with the law, and that Oakhill’s policy will be updated and communicated to staff. This means children and young people at Oakhill are no longer at risk of being locked in their rooms indefinitely.
“This issue directly affected all children and young people detained at Oakhill, but the treatment of vulnerable children and young people under the care of the state is also a matter of wider public importance.
It is of considerable public interest that children and young people in custody are not subjected to unlawful, and potentially indefinite, separation. Separation, even for short periods of time, can cause psychological harm, especially to children.
The Howard League has brought a number of cases challenging practices and policies around the separation of children in penal custody. This case reaffirms the importance of adhering to legislative safeguards when separating children from their peers.
The case also further evidences the Howard League’s long-held position that privately run secure training centres are a flawed model of child detention. The treatment of children in custody desperately needs a root-and-branch review, and the Howard League will continue to campaign for this.
Funding from Law for Change, which indemnified us against adverse costs if permission was not granted or the challenge was unsuccessful, allowed us to pursue the litigation in our own name rather than waiting for a child who had been unlawfully separated to bring the challenge.”
– Sinead MacCann, Managing Solicitor, The Howard League for Penal Reform
Law for Change welcomes the decision to revise this policy and hopes it marks a step towards creating healthier, more constructive environments that give young people in these units the support they need and the best chance of rehabilitation.
