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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I supported this amendment on the previous occasion and of course I do so now. It is absurd that 18 should be thought to be the right age for this. Some 18 year-olds are really childish, while others may only think that they are big guys. To place them in accommodation with hardened criminals does not make any sense. The other point made by the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, concerned the background of these children. It has taken a long time to get the whole business of how they are treated and how they are restrained looked at, but even now it has been put off for yet a few more weeks while a wider look is taken at what the Government are prepared to do. The time has come for the Government to accept that no 18 year-old should be detained in a prison setting. I am only sorry that there are not more noble Lords who have spoken previously on this issue to set out the position more forcefully than has been the case today.