Secure Accommodation

There are very strict rules about putting young people in secure units.  Young people are only ever placed in a secure unit if Children, Schools and Families are really worried about them and think this is the only way that they can be kept safe.  Young people may go to a secure unit because they keep running away and they do dangerous things that could get them seriously hurt.  Young people who may seriously hurt others are also sometimes placed in a secure unit.

This means that the young person is placed in a special unit where they are unable to run away and they cannot go out of the unit as the outside doors are always locked. This is not a prison and young people do not go there because they have committed a crime (although they may have done). Young people in secure units are not put into cells, handcuffed, or made to wear uniforms.

In an emergency, Children, Schools and Families can place a young person in a secure unit for up to 72 hours (three days). After the first 72 hours in a secure unit any further decisions to retain a young person in a secure unit must be approved by getting a special Order from court.  After that, if the court and Children, Schools and Families agree that this is the best and safest place for a young person to be, they can agree for them to stay there for another three months.

If at the end of the three months the court and Children, Schools and Families decide that this is still the best and safest place for a young person to be, they can agree for them to stay for another six months. Every six months they will think again.
You can appeal against a Court Order for a secure unit and you will immediately be given an “Independent Visitor” to make sure that you are OK.