Almost a quarter of children at a privately run Warwickshire youth detention centre managed by a controversial US company have been insulted by staff, a report has found.
Rainsbrook young offender facility, designed to hold children and young adults between the ages of 12 and 18 near Rugby in Warwickshire, was found to be "inadequate" in two of eight categories in its latest Ofsted report.
The report detailed how inspectors who visited the facility in October, when it housed around 55 young people, witnessed "an incident where a child was subjected to humiliating and degrading treatment by staff".
It went on to state that 21% of those held in the facility, run by US company MTCnovo, had been insulted by staff.
The report stated levels of violence inside remained a "regular occurrence", following previous Ofsted inspections, which noted similar failings previously in the facility. There was an average of "28 assaults and two fights each month", the new report noted, adding: "not all violent incidents had been reported".
The report's findings were described as "shocking" by campaigners, who called for the facility to be shut down immediately.
"It is failing children," Frances Crook, CEO of the Howard League for Penal Reform, told BuzzFeed News. "It is not looking after children properly. It is a failing institution and it should be closed."
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"Rainsbrook, which I have been to a couple of times, is not an appropriate place for children," Crook said. "These reports fill out real concerns. If it was my child I would be out there with a placard asking for it to be closed immediately. It is shocking that we tolerate such poor treatment of children."
Crook went on to say part of the problem with centres such as Rainsbrook, one of three similar institutions in England, was inadequate staff training, which left many of the children housed there at the mercy of wardens who themselves received only "a few weeks' training".
"No wonder it is a shambles," she said. "It is not just a matter of training, but they need to be educated."
The privately run facility has been beset by controversy. In 2004 15-year-old Gareth Myatt was restrained to death. Last year, in May, six officers were dismissed after another report found staff were using racist language and degrading treatment.
In September 2015, outsourcing firm G4S lost its contract to run the youth centre, and Utah-based MTC (Management and Training Corporation), which grosses around $500 million annually, and Novo, a consortium that includes charities, partnered to take over the facility.
That month, a snap Ofsted report found violence and the use of restraints had increased in the facility.
MTC has faced intense criticism in the US. Last year a judge described an MTC facility in Mississippi as plagued by "disorder, periodic mayhem, and staff ineptitude", BuzzFeed News revealed.
Meanwhile, in the UK, questions have been raised about the system of awarding these highly lucrative contracts to private firms. An inquiry was ordered in March after a Mail on Sunday investigation alleged ministers used their Whitehall connections to help private firms secure the contracts. In June, the investigation found "no evidence" that staff had interacted improperly with potential contractors.
Responding to the latest Ofsted report, Rich Gansheimer, chief executive of MTCnovo, said in a statement to ITV the company was "partway through transforming Rainsbrook and the challenges that entails".
A MTCnovo spokesperson told BuzzFeed News the company's behaviour towards it's charges was "key" in helping their reintegration into society, and they would "not tolerate any incidents of humiliating and degrading treatment of young people by staff."
"We have been and will continue to work with MTCnovo on all of the issues of concern identified within this inspection report," Colin Allars, chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, told ITV.
The Ministry of Justice declined to comment when contacted by BuzzFeed News, instead drawing attention to the Taylor report, also published today, announcing £15 million investment for frontline staff, as the centrepiece of a push for education.