Significant use of restriction in Oberstown, report says

Restrictive practices, including locking young offenders in rooms or using restraint, remains “significant” in Oberstown Children’s Detention Centre, a report has found.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found while the use of restrictive procedures has decreased in recent years, they are still frequently used, with residents being locked into their bedrooms each night.

In July 2019, an unannounced inspection was carried out in the north Dublin detention campus - which provides care and education to children who have been convicted for criminal offences or remanded in custody while awaiting trial or sentence.

Of the eight standards assessed as part of this process, five were found to be compliant, one was found to be substantially compliant and moderate non-compliance was found in the remaining two standards.

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Hiqa said that despite the prevalence of restrictive procedures, it was apparent during the inspection that managers and staff were committed to reducing these exercises, without compromising the restrictions required to provide a safe and secure place of detention.

“There was a strategic approach taken to ensure these reductions continued and, also, to ensure offending behaviour programmes were being developed on an ongoing basis,” the inspector’s report states.

There were also issues with regard to “poor record keeping,” particularly with regard to when restriction was used.

The centre’s records did not always show how young people’s rights and best interests were promoted when restrictive practices were used, the inspector said.

Written accounts by staff of incidents did not always recognise physical interventions as restriction, or did not detail the extent to which they were used.

For example, reports detailed staff “holding” a young person on a couch or “staff intervened to remove a young person”, but the details of these physical interventions were not recorded properly, the inspector said.

Overall, Hiqa found that young people were well cared for on a daily basis, and they were able to describe a good standard of care to inspectors.

The residents told inspectors that they felt safe on campus and that the staff team provided them with support, encouragement and helped them to solve problems.

In response to the inspector’s findings, Oberstown detention centre submitted an action plan to Hiqa to “drive improvement”.