Section one Context need for improved monitoring, tracking, and reporting of protected characteristics. management and care of men who had selfharmed or were at risk of doing so.64 Serious concerns about the treatment of prisoners held in segregation at Cornton Vale women’s prison were identified by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) during its 2018 visit to Scotland. Women in need of urgent care and treatment in a psychiatric facility were found to be held for long periods in solitary confinement. Disturbingly, the CPT considered that neither the Separation and Reintegration Unit (SRU) nor Ross House (an accommodation unit) were suitably equipped or staffed to provide proper care for the vulnerable women held at the time of the visit.63 Children in detention Overall, NPM members welcomed the continued fall in the number of children held in custody across the UK during the year.65 Inspections in Scotland, England and Wales assessed some improvements in safety outcomes. However, concerns were raised about the increasing proportion of young people remanded to custody and the increased disproportionality of children and young people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds detained. In Northern Ireland, a joint thematic review of the safety of prisoners by RQIA and CJINI found the Care and Supervision Unit for young men aged between 18 and 24 at Hydebank Wood College to be unsafe. This Unit was consequently relocated to another part of the college with an improved physical environment. A multi-agency inspection of Maghaberry Prison, which houses adult men, noted good improvements to health services and medication management, as well as to staff morale and leadership. Reductions in levels of violence and disorder were also positive developments. The inspection team indicated that further work was required to support the most vulnerable prisoners within Maghaberry, including improved In Northern Ireland, the RQIA progressed enforcement action in 2017–18 in relation to aspects of care in Lakewood Secure Children’s Home, where it had concerns about the management of complaints from the young people, restriction of young people in their bedroom environments and safeguarding. Inspections of all five dedicated secure care services for children and young people in Scotland evaluated the quality of care as very good or better for the year 2018–19. Inspectors noted an increase in relationshipbased practice which recognises the importance of the human relationships staff have with the people they work with, services becoming more trauma-aware, and significant improvements to physical environments. 63 Committee for the Prevention of Torture, October 2019, Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit to the United Kingdom carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), https://rm.coe.int/1680982a3e [accessed 27/10/19] 64 Report on an unannounced inspection of Maghaberry Prison 9–19 April 2017, November 2018, https://www. justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/11/CJINI-Maghaberry-Prison-unannouncedwith-tables.pdf [accessed 05/12/19] 65 HM Prison and Probation Service, September 2019, Youth Custody Report, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ youth-custody-data [accessed 05/12/19] 27