Pindown was a method of
behaviour management used in
children's home Residential child care communities or children's homes are a type of residential care, which refers to long-term care given to children who cannot stay in their birth family home. There are two different approaches towards residential care: The fam ...
s in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in the 1980s. It involved isolating children, sometimes for weeks on end, and in some cases drove children to the verge of suicide. Following expressions of concern, the council ordered a
public inquiry
A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal ...
into the practice of "Pindown". The subsequent report condemned the practice as "unethical, unprofessional and illegal"; the report had a major impact on children's law in the United Kingdom.
Background
Staffordshire children's homes were, in the 1980s, an underfunded and understaffed part of a department that was required to find £1.5M in cuts. They were also severely overcrowded; the log books of The Birches notes that on one occasion, 30 children were playing five-a-side football whilst that of 245 Hartshill Road records an instance of 20 children playing the game; in each case, the maximum number of residents in each home was exactly half those recorded - 15 at The Birches and 10 at Hartshill Road. It was also noted that a boy who absconded from The Birches returned to find there was no bed for him; he spent the night on the floor.
On 2 October 1989 John Spurr, a deputy director of
Staffordshire County Council
Staffordshire County Council is the top-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshir ...
's
social services
Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...
department, was telephoned by a Stoke-on-Trent solicitor, Kevin Williams, who was extremely concerned about a 15yearold girl for whom he was acting in care proceedings.
[Levy & Kahan 1991:2] She had made allegations of abuse in the children's home at 245 Hartshill Road and had broken her ankle in seeking to escape from the home. The following day, Barry O'Neill (Director of Social Services) issued instructions that pindown must cease at Hartshill Road. When the issue was publicised, the county council determined that a
public inquiry
A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal ...
must be held.
O'Neill later noted that, in such a straitened system, there had been "a clear policy decision to let
ony_Lathamthe_social_worker_in_charge.html" ;"title="social_work.html" ;"title="ony Lathamthe social work">ony Lathamthe social worker in charge">social_work.html" ;"title="ony Lathamthe social work">ony Lathamthe social worker in chargeget on with it and not to interfere as long as he 'produced the goods'."
The practice
Pindown was a
behaviour management policy developed by social worker Tony Latham in the 1980s.
It began as a strict control regime; children were often required to wear pyjamas in order to prevent their absconding, but this practice encountered little success; the local police complained that they were still spending too much time dealing with runaways. Pindown was first practised in the children's residential home at 245 Hartshill Road,
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
, but later spread to other such homes in the county.
Children were regularly deprived of their clothing and footwear, being required to wear either pyjamas or just their underwear. They were locked in rooms called "pindown rooms", sometimes for periods of weeks or months, similar to a
lockdown
A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison ...
in
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
s. The children were kept in
solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
with little furniture (and sometimes no bedding),
[Levy & Kahan 1991:27] no conversation and repetitive occupations. On occasion, they were required to perform physical exercise outdoors in their underwear and were subjected to
corporal punishment;
sometimes they were also deprived of food, water or
lavatory paper, not allowed to go to the lavatory at all, or were doused in cold water.
[Levy & Kahan 1991:43] Log books for the institutions simply recorded such treatment as "loss of privileges".
The Pindown schedule included "Rise and bath" at 0700hrs then "Bed and lights out" at 1900hrs (after another bath at 1800hrs).
An internal document from one home notes (in block capitals) that, amongst other rules:
Between 1983 and 1989, at least 132 children, aged nine and upwards, experienced what came to be called pindown. Duration of individual punishments varied in length but, in one instance, lasted 84 continuous days - longer than the subsequent public inquiry. It was punishment for such activities as running away from the home, truanting from school, petty theft, bullying and threats of violence.
Public inquiry
The Pindown Inquiry (held in 1990–1991) was chaired by
Allan Levy QC LLB
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
(a noted children's advocate) and
Barbara Kahan OBE MA (Cantab) (chair of the
National Children's Bureau
The National Children’s Bureau works collaboratively across the issues affecting children to influence policy and get services working together to deliver a better childhood.
Established in 1963, they have been at the forefront of campaigning f ...
).
Evidence
The inquiry lasted 75 days, taking oral evidence from 70
witnesses
In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...
including:
*
Mark Fisher
Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 – 13 January 2017), also known under his blogging alias k-punk, was an English writer, music critic, political and cultural theorist, philosopher, and teacher based in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsm ...
, the MP for Stoke-on-Trent
* 7 members of the county council
* 5 senior officers of the county council, including the chief executive
* 42 members of staff of the social services department and 8 former members of staff
* 15 individuals and representatives of organisations such as the
BASW and the
MSC
It received written submissions from a further 26 witnesses. There were also 57 witnesses who gave evidence anonymously, including children, their parents and others who asked not to be named.
The inquiry examined approximately 150,000 pages of documents including:
* 400 log books from children’s homes
* personnel files
* committee papers
* financial records
* minutes
* staff meeting minutes
* 21 legal references, including the
Bill of Rights 1689
The Bill of Rights 1689 is an Act of the Parliament of England, which sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown, and is seen as a crucial landmark in English constitutional law. It received Royal ...
and the children's legislation from as early as
1933
Events
January
* January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand.
* January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...
and as late as
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
* 51 reports from bodies as varied as
HM Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal coat of arms of t ...
and
The Children's Society
The Children's Society, formally the Church of England Children's Society, is a United Kingdom national children's charity (registered No. 221124) allied to the Church of England.
The charity's two governing objectives are to:
# directly improv ...
.
After almost a year, the inquiry produced a 300-page report.
It recorded the "Pindown Experience" of seven specific children, but noted that the system had applied to as many as 132 children.
Findings
The report concluded that the pindown system was perceived as "narrow, punitive and harshly restrictive", and that under the system children suffered "despair" and "humiliation". It consisted of "the worst of institutional control" and stemmed initially from "an ill-digested understanding of behavioural psychology", was "inexplicable" and "wholly negative".
The report asserted that pindown was intrinsically "unethical, unprofessional and unacceptable" and breached Community Homes Regulations and Secure Accommodation Provisions. It lacked professional oversight and "middle management" had proved itself lacking.
[Levy & Kahan 1991:168]
The report further asserted that Tony Latham "bears responsibility for the creation of Pindown and the use of it" and that, whilst Latham might have been driven by "an excess of energy and enthusiasm"
he had "lost sight of minimum standards of behaviour and professional practice."
[Levy & Kahan 1991:169] Staffordshire Constabulary
Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England. It is made up of eleven Local Policing Teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authori ...
, teachers, the probation service and the Social Services Inspecorate, the report noted, had all failed the children of Staffordshire.
Management in Staffordshire's social services department was "inadequate", as were supervision, staffing and training.
Recommendations
The report offered detailed, key recommendations. Aside from recommending the immediate cessation of pindown, the inquiry made 39 recommendations in total. Amongst other things, it recommended that:
* there be increased measures of control by social service departments in Staffordshire and elsewhere
* log books in residential establishments be maintained fully and clearly
* that statutory visitors to residential establishments should highlight the question of "control"
* that statutory visits should be made without warning
* that the law be amended so that regulations of restriction of children in care be less vague
* that each residential facility should have both a designated officer and a deputy designated officer
* that each residential facility should record all visitors
There were 39 recommendations in total.
[Levy & Kahan 1991:173–6]
The report led to the Quality Protects initiative, launched by the
Department of Health
A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...
in 1998, which sought to improve a range of childcare services.
References
Bibliography
{{cite book, author1=Allan Levy QC, author2=Barbara Kahan, title=The Pindown Experience and the Protection of Children, date=1991, publisher=Staffordshire County Council, location=Stafford, page=167, url=https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/yourcouncil/dataprotectionandfreedomofinformation/publicationsscheme/The-Pindown-Experience-and-the-Protection-of-Children.pdf, access-date=23 November 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124092144/https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/yourcouncil/dataprotectionandfreedomofinformation/publicationsscheme/The-Pindown-Experience-and-the-Protection-of-Children.pdf, archive-date=24 November 2016, url-status=dead
See also
*
Institutional abuse Institutional abuse is the maltreatment of a person (often children or older adults) from a system of power. This can range from acts similar to home-based child abuse, such as neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and hunger, to the effects of assist ...
*
Cleveland child abuse scandal
The Cleveland child abuse scandal is a wave of suspected child sexual abuse cases in 1987 in Cleveland, England, many of which were later discredited.
In that year a large number of child sexual abuse allegations followed the use of a new and c ...
*
Social care in England
In England, social care is defined as the provision of social work, personal care, protection or social support services to children or adults in need or at risk, or adults with needs arising from illness, disability, old age or poverty. The main ...
Institutional abuse
Social care in England
Public inquiries in the United Kingdom
History of mental health in the United Kingdom