An unacceptable level of pain is being used to restrain children in Young Offenders institutions and this would be seen as abuse anywhere else in society, an independent inquiry said.
The report, set up after the death of a 15-year-old boy in a privately run secure unit while he was being restrained by three members of staff, said that unnecessarily painful restraint techniques were used to deal with any kind of dissent.
Liberal Democrat Lord Carlile, who led the year-long inquiry, said his investigation also raised the question why Britain had so many young people in secure institutions.
"My team of expert advisers shared my shock at some of the practices we witnessed," Carlile said in the report.
"The rule of law and the protection of human rights should apply to all children equally, regardless of whether they are detained in custody or in the community,'' he added.
"We found that some of the treatment meted out to children in custody would in another setting be considered abusive and could trigger a child protection investigation," Carlile said.
"The bottom line is why on earth are we incarcerating so many children and young people compared with other countries," he added. "If you look at all other countries in the European Union you see that they manage to do things without locking up so many young people."
{{/usCountry}}"The bottom line is why on earth are we incarcerating so many children and young people compared with other countries," he added. "If you look at all other countries in the European Union you see that they manage to do things without locking up so many young people."
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