Teen killers and other criminals offered yoga and mindfulness classes in £36m ‘safe school’ prison
- In a major uproar, government builds UK’s first ‘safe school’
- It costs £186,000 per pupil, making it more expensive than Eton College
- Justice Minister Dominic Raab said the costly plan was worth the investment
Teen criminals are offered yoga and mindfulness classes in a new £36.5 million prison for young offenders.
In a sweeping change to juvenile detention centres, the government is building the UK’s first ‘safe school’ where criminals aged 12 to 18 will live in boarding school style bedrooms, equipped with TVs and soothing ‘waterfall and rainforest’ surround sound systems.
Equipped with a basketball court, therapy rooms and over 200 staff serving 49 pupils, the school will cost £186,000 per pupil per year – making it more expensive than Eton College.
Built near the old Borstal prison in Medway, Kent, the Medway Secure School will house some of the most dangerous young offenders in the country, including those who have committed murder.
Attorney General Dominic Raab said the costly “school within prison walls” plan was worth the investment in trying to break the “carousel of crime” that many young criminals get entangled in.
Mr Raab said the initiative will help reach the 64 percent of ‘stubborn’ young offenders who continue to commit new crimes.
Teen criminals are offered yoga and mindfulness classes in a new £36.5m prison for young offenders (stock image)
He said: ‘We know they haven’t taken advantage of the educational opportunities that other young people have, whether it’s because of truancy, expulsion or suspension.
“What we’re doing here is creating a school in a prison, rather than a unit of education in a prison.
‘We must not mince words. They are here for very serious things. With this group, we’re not talking about people who stumbled into young custodial land, they’ve done bad things. So there is an element of punishment in it, but also an attempt to prevent them from falling into more and more violations.’
Under the new plan, the young offenders will be called “students” and will live in small apartments instead of prison wings.
The flats will consist of two to six en-suite bedrooms, lounge area and kitchen.
The students, both girls and boys, wake up at 7:30 AM and have breakfast before being offered a yoga and mindfulness class to “get their blood flowing” and get them ready for the day.
Justice Minister Dominic Raab said the costly plan for ‘a school within prison walls’ was worth the investment to try to break the ‘carousel of crime’ that many young criminals get caught up in
They will spend the morning learning English and Mathematics before taking vocational subjects in the afternoon such as Construction, Hair and Beauty, Art, Music and Sports.
They will also have the opportunity to participate in Sports Days and work towards their Duke of Edinburgh award.
The school will not have prison guards, but will be run by normal teachers, some who will come from mainstream schools, along with youth workers, social workers and therapists.
Mr Raab stressed that the site is ‘very safe’ as it is fitted with an outer fencing and 24 hour CCTV surveillance.
Mr. Raab supported the idea of offering the young offenders yoga and mindfulness in the morning: ‘For me it’s not about being fashionable, but about calming everything down, because that’s how you get the best out of young people.
“We want to bring the temperature down, because that’s how they learn, get degrees, change their lives, get a job or go to school and make our streets safer.”