GOVERNMENT plans to warehouse child offenders as young as 12 in so-called “secure colleges” must be axed, children’s charities demanded yesterday.
Plans for the first such facility — set to open in Leicestershire in 2017 — were confirmed by ministers this week.
The facility would house hundreds of young offenders and, the government claims, double the time they spent in education.
Our members face serious violence, crumbling workplaces and exposure to dangerous drugs — it is outrageous we still cannot legally use our industrial muscle to fight back and defend ourselves, writes STEVE GILLAN
Working in a high-risk sector, prison officers’ calls for proper PPE must be heeded – and the POA will be fighting to ensure effective protection at work is delivered, writes MARK FAIRHURST



