A LABOUR MP raised concerns today over the “alarming” disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic (BAME) young people held in dire conditions in the youth justice system.

During a justice committee meeting Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter pressed members of HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) and the Youth Justice Board on the dramatic increase in the proportion of BAME youngsters in young offenders’ institutions (YOIs) over the last five years “in light of the bleak conditions.”

It was reported earlier this year that youths in YOIs are often held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, and that they stopped receiving visits and face-to-face education when the coronavirus outbreak began.