Children convicted of the most serious crimes will be shown “relentless love” at England’s first secure school, where they will live in dormitories instead of cells, according to its evangelical Christian founder.
The Reverend Steve Chalke, of Oasis Academies, who won the contract to run the school on behalf of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), said unrelenting love was not a “hippy” concept but a way of generating confidence with children that “nobody”. has worried very often” before.
The house will have gardens landscaped by a Chelsea Flower Show award winner and is based on similar therapeutic institutions in Scandinavia. It is being modeled on the Medway Secure Training Centre, a youth detention center which closed in March 2020 following a series of abuse scandals.
The safe school was originally due to open in the autumn of 2020, but now hopes to accept its first students in early 2024 after costs have risen from £4.9m to £36.5m. The National Audit Office said the estimate increased “mainly due to significant design revisions following due diligence”.
The school will be run by a “headmaster”, Andrew Willetts, rather than a prison governor, and children will be looked after by teachers, not guards, said Chalke, who oversees 52 Oasis academies in England. “We don’t have young criminals. We have students. Just like we have bedrooms and we are at home. There is nothing left of this alienating language,” he said.
Instead of living in wings, the children will be grouped in four “houses”, and they will be able to relax in living rooms “with sofas and a coffee table to put your feet on”. Chalke said he was determined that the children’s rooms would be bar-free and would be reinforced with toughened glass.
Everything about the school’s design, from the colors to the furniture to the garden, is meant to “de-stress” children who are “overcoming trauma and pain and violence and loss and neglect,” Chalke said. An expert in “therapeutic colors” has been working as a consultant on the project to advise which paint will help keep the children calm.
When children misbehave or commit a crime, they are “communicating some of the anxiety and chaos in their lives,” Chalke said. “My wife tells me that the more anxious I am, the more stressed I am, the stupider I act. We all behave and do stupid things when we’re stressed and anxious. We want to take care of these young people and that’s why we called it Oasis Restore, because it’s about of restoration”.
As well as studying a comprehensive curriculum including English and Maths, students will be able to record songs in an on-site music studio created by Judah Armani, who founded InHouse Records, a pioneering record label run by and for prisoners . Those who have taken part in the music program in traditional prisons, including Isis Prison, a young offender institution, have a recidivism rate of less than 1%.
“The studio will teach young people life skills and capture their imaginations. It will give them journeys to a good job, beyond our walls, while working with them therapeutically,” Chalke said.
In December 2016, the Ministry of Justice announced its intention to create two new safe schools in England, one in the North West and one in the South East. No plans have been released for the north school.
“Juvenile justice must be reformed. It needs a revolution,” Chalke said. Just under two-thirds (64%) of released children and youth reoffend within 12 months of release, with each committing an average of four new crimes. In February of 2022, there were 414 young people in youth custody: in secure children’s homes, young offender institutions and secure training centres.
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A maximum of 49 children (girls and boys aged 12 to 18) will live at Restore, either after they have been convicted or while they are on remand awaiting trial. The Ministry of Justice’s placement board will decide which children to send to the school, and Chalke said Oasis had no veto over who to accept.
The school, which will work with NHS England, will soon start recruiting 180 staff. Unlike much of the rest of the prison system, no services will be outsourced.
“Everyone must be passionate about young people. Our theme is relentless love,” Chalke said. “You know, I’ve been asked about that. And people say “oh you can’t do that you know” or “that sounds hippy” or whatever. But relentless love has limits, it has respect.”
He said he had wanted the restaurant line to “set the kids free” but was vetoed. Instead, its motto will be “creating a secure future for young people”. But Chalke said his original idea was important. “If we don’t let them go free, it’s a waste of public money.”