{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,27]],"date-time":"2026-10-27T23:29:44Z","timestamp":1793143784598,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,20]],"date-time":"2024-06-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1718841600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001921","name":"Public Health Research Programme","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NIHR202660"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NIHR202660"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001921","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Children in custodial settings are a vulnerable group. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there were concerns about the safety of children in these settings. COVID-19 has had an impact on everyone but given the vulnerability of children in custody, there were concerns about the impact of COVID-19 restrictions. All custody settings for children are independently inspected and this research aimed to analyse data from inspection reports. Twenty-six inspection reports undertaken between March 2020 and October 2021 were analysed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on delivery of usual care\/regime.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Data showed that across all site\u2019s children spent considerable amounts of time isolated and in some cases, this was deemed to amount to solitary confinement. There was evidence of some positive experiences, in the smaller sites, around COVID-19 slowing the pace of life allowing staff and children could foster relationships. However, in the larger sites, isolation was extreme and COVID-19 policies such as \u2018bubbles\u2019 appear to have created unintended consequences as sites have moved into recovery, leading to increased violence and stress. COVID-19 directly impacted staffing levels. This and the COVID-19 policies to reduce mixing also had an impact on how children\u2019s behaviour, welfare and safeguarding was managed. In some larger sites, being COVID-19 secure was prioritised over the needs of the children.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This research highlights the importance of multi-site longitudinal research to understand how children, staff and institution\u2019s function. The experiences of children in custody during COVID-19 differed by site type. The research suggests that the larger sites are struggling to keep children safe and there should be a shift towards smaller, more therapeutic environments. More research is needed to understand the longer-term unintended consequences of COVID-19 policy in custody, for these vulnerable children.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0304862","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,20]],"date-time":"2024-06-20T17:22:08Z","timestamp":1718904128000},"page":"e0304862","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for children in custody: An analysis of inspection reports"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9014-9965","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Charlotte","family":"Lennox","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martha","family":"Duncan-Zaleski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sahara","family":"Nasim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Olivia","family":"Shirley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kenny","family":"Ross","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Prathiba","family":"Chitsabesan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6455-1360","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Louise","family":"Robinson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jenny","family":"Shaw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Leonard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0304862.ref001","year":"2023","journal-title":"HM 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COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"11","author":"L Johnson","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref011","article-title":"COVID-19 Research & Evaluation (CoRE) Programme: Final Report.","author":"HM Prison and Probation Service and Youth Custody Service","year":"2022","journal-title":"The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Youth Custody Services"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0304862.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/s12913-021-06337-z","article-title":"Developing health and wellbeing in prisons: an analysis of prison inspection reports in Scotland.","volume":"21","author":"J Woodall","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMC Health Services Research"},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref013","first-page":"1","article-title":"Promoting health and well-being in prisons: an analysis of one year\u2019s prison inspection reports","author":"J Woodall","year":"2019","journal-title":"Critical Public 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Woodall","year":"2020","journal-title":"International Journal of Prisoner Health"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0304862.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1080\/14999013.2020.1743389","article-title":"Standards of mental health care in prisons in England and Wales: a qualitative study of reports from Her Majesty\u2019s Inspectorate of Prisons","volume":"19","author":"E Glorney","year":"2020","journal-title":"International Journal of Forensic Mental Health"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0304862.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"212","DOI":"10.1002\/cbm.2233","article-title":"Exploration of adverse patterns of placement of young people in secure care","volume":"32","author":"JG Smith","year":"2022","journal-title":"The unwanted child? Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health"},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref017","volume-title":"Inspection Framework","author":"HM Inspectorate of Prisons","year":"2019"},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref018","volume-title":"Joint inspection framework: secure training centres","author":"Ofsted, Care Quality Commission & HM Inspectorate of Prisons","year":"2014"},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref019","author":"Ofsted, Care Quality Commission & HM Inspectorate of Prisons","year":"2017","journal-title":"Social care common inspection framework (SCCIF): secure children\u2019s homes."},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref020","author":"QSR International Pty Ltd","year":"2018","journal-title":"NVivo (Version 12)."},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref021","author":"HM Prison and Probation Service","year":"2022","journal-title":"HMPPS Cohorting & Compartmentalisation Guidance"},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref022","author":"Ofsted: Social Care Blog.","year":"2020","journal-title":"Secure children\u2019s homes\u2013helping the most vulnerable children."},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref023","volume-title":"The Youth Justice System\u2019s Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic: The impact on a Secure Children\u2019s Home","author":"D Jump","year":"2022"},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref024","author":"Independent Review of Children\u2019s Social Care","year":"2021","journal-title":"Case for Change"},{"key":"pone.0304862.ref025","author":"Independent Review of Children\u2019s Social Care","year":"2021","journal-title":"Recommendation Annexes: Additional detail on review recommendations\u2019"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0304862.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1080\/13632752.2019.1633738","article-title":"A systematic literature review exploring the factors identified by children and young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties as influential on their experiences of education.","volume":"24","author":"P. 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