Following lurid headlines about rioting, absconsions and violence in one of Scotland’s seven secure care homes, Rory Cahill is given exclusive access to one of the units that houses some of Scotland’s most troubled young people
Tamara was eight years old when her father took her to Amsterdam’s red-light district. Officially, he abandoned her, but in reality, he almost certainly sold her to a pimp. Nobody knows exactly what happened to Tamara over the next six years but it would be safe to say you could assume the worst, multiply it by a thousand and you wouldn’t even be close. It was only when Dutch police raided a brothel and picked her up that Tamara was rescued and Interpol got involved. Interpol found she was on a missing person’s list and returned her to Scotland.
It quickly became apparent that Tamara’s experiences had left her in need of the most serious care possible. She was utterly, unmanageably violent, and quickly moved from residential care to a secure care unit but even there, her continual assaults on staff and other residents left those trying to help wondering if they would ever be able to provide her with some measure of comfort, or the means to begin to understand and comprehend what had happened to her, and devise a way in which she could learn to live a life of sorts.
But Tamara refused to allow anyone to come near her, either physically or emotionally and her violence continued unabated. It was decided that the all-female environment at the newly refurbished 24-bed Good Shepherd secure unit in Bishopton might offer Tamara, who was by now 15, a more supportive environment.
Maria Harte, the Head of Secure and Close Support at Good Shepherd
fights back tears as she explains how, despite the very best efforts of
staff – many of whom were subjected to repeated assaults by Tamara –
little or nothing could be done for her.
“She was just not going to allow us to reach her, she was just so angry
at the world. She used such extreme violence, she’d hit, kick, throw
things, it didn’t matter what. She’d howl and howl and then just
collapse into the foetal position. Finally, she very seriously
assaulted one of our staff, to the point where the staff member had to
be taken to hospital with a footprint on her face,” she says.
Tamara was taken away from the Good Shepherd in handcuffs by police and
eventually ‘unrulied’ by a Sheriff – given an unruly certificate,
allowing her to be remanded in custody in an adult prison or young
offenders institution, which houses 16-21 year olds. But on the night
that she seriously attacked the staff member, the police who took her
away decided that she would be best served by being placed in a
homeless shelter until she faced court, a decision that Harte said was
the worst possible option, leaving an already vulnerable youngster in a
dangerous and unforgiving environment.
What became of Tamara? She was sentenced to prison for the assault on
the Good Shepherd staff member and as she had turned 16 in the
intervening time, was sent to the young offenders institution at
Cornton Vale, and would transfer to the adult wing when she turned 21.
Beyond that? Most likely, a horrific cycle of heroin, further sexual
abuse in the form of prostitution to pay for heroin, and more bouts of
Cornton Vale until one day, she dies, says Harte.
“But you have to hold onto a little bit of hope, you have to think that
maybe one day, further down the line, something we taught her, or said
to her here, will help her, that maybe we planted some sort of seed.”
And while Tamara’s case is one of the most extreme ever seen in the
Scottish secure system, the ‘average’ case still involves abuse and
suffering on an almost unimaginable scale.
One of the current residents, a 13-year-old, was beaten daily by her
mother with fists, feet and anything else that came to hand. Staff
suspect strongly that her mother also sold her to men for money and
drugs. The girl cannot stand to know that her mother is even in the
same building as her, and Children’s Hearings have to be conducted via
video link.
Harte says staff reached a breakthrough with the girl a few weeks ago when she allowed one of the staff members to hug her:
“Before that she just wouldn’t let anyone touch her for any reason.
Even getting them to smile is such a breakthrough sometimes.”
Good Shepherd staff are beginning to learn the indicators which give a clue to which girls might have the most serious issues.
“We’ve found that girls whose mothers have died, especially those who
have committed suicide or died from drugs, tend to have the most
deep-set problems. It’s like it’s the ultimate rejection,” says Harte.
There are 125 secure care places in Scotland spread across seven
locations, up from 92 in 2005, although current capacity has been
reduced by 31 after the recent riots at St Mary’s, Kenmure. They house
young people aged between 13 and 18 who are either sentenced to
deprivation of liberty by the courts or the Children’s Hearing, or
young people whose behaviour is deemed to pose a great danger to the
young person themselves. The units are the last resort for the system –
the vast majority of those inside them will have been through the full
gamut of options on offer – residential care; residential schools,
fostering – before arriving at a place like the Good Shepherd.
The units are run by local authorities, some by not-for-profit
organisations and charities, and a small number managed by
private-sector operators. The Good Shepherd Centre is the country’s
only dedicated facility for females, something made possible by
expansion of the secure care estate under the previous Executive.
Former Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson says she was keen to ensure that
the changes to the estate not only improved capacity, and facilities,
especially in some of the older institutions, but also allowed at least
one dedicated female-only centre.
“I was very concerned that having seen some of the old secure units and
been aware of the conditions, there were issues about the physical
environment that staff were working in, but also, I wanted to make sure
that we had the right shape and size of secure estate so I was very
keen that we have a facility for girls and young women rather than it
all being mixed. And I also wanted to increase the capacity so it
wasn’t about taking more young people, it was about ensuring we had the
ability to meet the needs of young people because some are in secure
care because of their offending behaviour, others because they are a
danger to themselves.
“So part of it was about getting the buildings and infrastructure
upgraded and improved, but part of it was about what happens inside the
buildings, in terms of getting the right staff in place to support the
young people and hopefully turn their lives around,” she says.
At a cost of £9m to build and with a weekly bill of £4,984 per bed –
compared to £1,500 a week per bed for long-term care in the NHS, or
£700 per week in prison – you would hope the facilities at the Good
Shepherd are first class, and indeed they are.
But are we getting value for money from secure care, especially given
that the average cost per bed per week has risen from £3,458 in 2005/05
to just under £5,000 per bed per week now? Improved facilities at St
Mary’s did not stop young people rioting and then escaping, amid much
damage to the newly-refurbished building, resulting in three of the
young people being transferred to the prison system, entirely what
secure care is supposed to avoid. Similarly, the dismaying procession
of young people who have been in secure care ending up in adult prisons
once they leave the juvenile system continues unabated.
The question of value becomes especially pertinent when we consider
that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has made plain his desire that
no child under-16 in Scotland should be held in prison for any reason.
To this end – and to the applause of Children’s Commissioner Kathleen
Marshall and Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons Dr Andrew
McLellan – MacAskill has moved to do away with unruly certificates. By
definition, this will mean greater demand for secure care places, and
thus more cost. But as Jamieson points out when asked why she didn’t
get rid of unruly certificates in her time as Justice Minister, without
the “safety valve” the certificates offer, what would the staff at the
Good Shepherd have done when faced with an uncontrollable young person
like Tamara, who presented a clear and present danger to staff?
Walking around the Good Shepherd – which is run by the Cora Foundation,
a not-for-profit company established by the Archdiocese of Glasgow,
that also manages St Mary’s – it is easy to see where the money went
and continues to go. The education wing boasts a dedicated art room,
science room, home economics room and music room as well as numerous
classrooms. Class sizes are never more than four, and even then contain
a number of teaching aides as well as the lead teacher. Indeed, Harte
says that a member of staff is with the girls at all times, from when
they get up until they go to bed.
There is a fully equipped gym that would be the envy of many
professional sports clubs and an indoor basketball court-cum-exercise
area. The units, where the girls live six to a building, have a large
common area that feels more like a well-appointed holiday chalet and
the bedrooms themselves are quite spacious, complete with en-suite
bathrooms and televisions, albeit ones that can be turned off remotely
by staff.
Girls are allowed Xboxes if they work within the rules set down, and
they eat from a varied range of healthy fresh meals. “Chips only once a
week,” says Harte brightly. Bedtime is 10pm and the girls are allowed
to get themselves up in the mornings, on the understanding that they
are ready in time for school. After school and on weekends, there are a
wide array of activities, from petting zoos brought in especially for
the girls, to various members of staff – there are 106 in total for 24
girls – giving up their own free time to take girls into local towns.
Access to secure units for journalists is rare, bordering on
non-existent. And it is easy to see why. A tabloid journalist seeing
the level of provision for these young people would salivate at the
headlines: “Five Grand A Week For Xbox Neds”, “You Pay For Neds To Play
Drums All Day”.
But of course, there is far more to the story. When Holyrood
was visiting, one girl was indeed playing a drum kit under the
instruction of a drum teacher who had been brought in for the occasion.
The girl also had savage red streaks of scar tissue down both her
forearms from self-harming
When Holyrood
was visiting, one girl was indeed playing a drum kit under the
instruction of a drum teacher who had been brought in for the occasion.
The girl also had savage red streaks of scar tissue down both her
forearms from self-harming 
. She was also being held in secure
care, not because she had committed any major offence, but because it
had been deemed she posed a serious danger to herself.
“About 70 per cent of our girls self-harm, and we are always finding
ligatures. Even though all the rooms are especially designed to have no
points the girls can use for ligatures, they still find a way. We do a
risk assessment on the girls before they are allowed an Xbox because
they take them apart and use some of the parts to self-harm. They can
be so innovative like that,” says Harte.
The Care Commission, while generally praising the work of secure units
and the people who work inside them, highlighted a number of areas
where it felt improvements needed to be made in its 2007 report ‘The
Quality of Care Services in Scotland.’ The key areas of concern for the
commission were child protection issues, diet and the provision of food
and recruitment policies, all of which will be addressed by individual
reports in the coming month.
But what about St Mary’s? The Care Commission registers all secure
units and has the power to de-register them too. Riots and escapes must
call into question the ability of St Mary’s to safely and effectively
deliver its services.
Ronnie Hill, director of child services regulation at the commission says that deregistration of St Mary’s is not on the agenda:
“We are in regular contact with the governors of St Mary’s and we will
inspect St Mary’s to ensure that repairs being made and that the plans
being made will make it fit for purpose. This is not to say that St
Mary’s registration is at risk, but we will work with the local
authorities and St Mary’s to see that the situation is addressed before
young people are placed there again.”
For Michelle Miller, convener of the Association of Directors of Social
Work’s Children and Families standing committee, there are questions to
be answered over whether secure care represents the best possible use
of limited resources for dealing with exceptionally troubled young
people.
Miller points out that during the consultation over the extension of
provision of secure care places, which took place in the early part of
this decade, many professionals suggested that while the physical
condition of the existing estate certainly needed improvement, much of
the money that was spent on provision of new places – which would then
require further increased spending to maintain them – could have been
better used on interventions in the community, or in other forms of
care, like residential care or fostering.
“The reality is that secure care is extraordinarily expensive
and there is always the danger that we will use it because it is there.
What we need to do is recognise that there are kids with very high
levels of need and only limited resources to deal with that
The reality is that secure care is extraordinarily expensive
and there is always the danger that we will use it because it is there.
What we need to do is recognise that there are kids with very high
levels of need and only limited resources to deal with that
.
We have to ensure we get the best quality that reflects our investment
because just because something costs a lot does not always mean it is
the best,” she says.
One area where Miller expresses concern about the returns we are seeing
from funding is in the educational achievements by young people in all
forms of care, including secure care. Given the exceptionally high
quality of resources, as well as tiny class sizes, shouldn’t we be
expecting more from children in care?
“If you were paying £5,000 a week for your child to attend somewhere
with those kinds of facilities, you’d expect them to get more than just
two Standard Grades in Maths and English. You can throw enough money at
anything and provide a Rolls-Royce setting, but what’s important is
that you get Rolls-Royce outcomes and generally, young people in care
have educational outcomes that lag far behind the average universal
outcomes,” she says.
Claire McCormack, one of the staff – a residential care worker – says
she won’t accept anything else than a Rolls-Royce outcome. Casually
dressed – staff do not wear uniforms of any sort – McCormack has
degrees in law and sociology, and says her job requires immense
dedication.
“It’s a 24 hour a day thing. Even when I get home, I’m thinking about
the girls, wondering what they’re doing, or planning what we’ll do the
next day in my head. And I stay in touch with some of them when they
leave, they give me their phone numbers, and we’ll meet up for lunch or
something, just keep the relationship going,” she says.
And what about the assaults? Has she ever been attacked by one of the girls?
“Well, I don’t feel like I’ve ever been targeted, it’s more the girls
lashing out. But yes, I’ve been attacked. They punch and throw things
and they tend to bite a lot. Biting is a big thing,” she says.
In those cases where girls become extremely violent, staff employ TCI
restraint methods which, they say, are perfectly safe, although this is
one area where practice is being looked at by the Care Commission.
Even at 14, Aleesha looks like she could deliver a nasty bite if she
wanted to, but staff say she is one of the biggest improvers in the
unit. When she arrived five months ago, she used to hide behind a hood
with her hair hanging down over her face, literally shielding herself
from the world. Now, with a brash, very short haircut, Aleesha is more
confident in taking on the world.
What is life like at the Good Shepherd?
“It’s good as long as you follow the rules and stuff. I really like doing the art classes,” she says.
Like many teenagers, Aleesha is shy and extracting answers from her can be painful, but she is very forthcoming on one thing.
“When I get out, I’m no’ going back into drinking and drugs with my
pals. They put you in the police station cells and that was horrible.”
Elizabeth Morrison, assistant director at advocacy group Who Cares?
Scotland, says that focusing on pounds and pennies only misses the
fundamental point of secure care.
“Secure care has to provide reasonable physical living standards for
these young people, and provide specially trained staff and these
things just do not come cheap. These are some of the most vulnerable
young people in Scotland, and it’s hard to put a price on their needs,
it’s not a question of money.
“But the key function of secure care has to be providing safety for
these vulnerable young people and most young people report to us that
they feel safe in secure care,” she says.
So what about the future for secure care in Scotland? The incidents at
St Mary’s do not bode well. If youngsters being held in the most
up-to-date facilities the country can offer still riot and escape, what
more can we do? Throwing yet more money at the problem is one option,
but how much more money can we afford – or do we want to – throw?
Perhaps we need to recognise that this is a problem that will never be
solved, one that will only ever be managed.
Asked what advice she’d give to Kenny MacAskill or any other minister
charged with managing Scotland’s secure care estate, Jamieson is frank:
“This is not something you can ever think that you have fixed and then
take your eye off the ball. I spent a lot of time personally looking at
the programme for the new secure estate and getting the right mix. You
can’t ever think, ‘I’ve got it right so I can leave it alone’, you must
constantly look to make sure that it is doing the job. It is an area
that is difficult for the staff; it’s difficult for the people who take
the decisions to put young people into secure accommodation and it’s
one that merits a close eye for the ministers to make sure that we are
actually getting the services that young people need.”
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