ABSTRACT
The relationships that a young person manages to establish with other young people and with the members of staff who look after them on a daily basis are amongst the critical factors which determine what they achieve in the course of their placement in a secure unit. The significance of these relationships has been increasingly recognised in research findings (Liebling et al. 1999) and is reflected in a number of official reports, prison service orders and good practice guidelines. In a summary of what constitutes effective practice in secure units, Cosgrave emphasises the importance of staff in modelling positive behaviour for young people and draws attention to the levels of knowledge and skill that they require:
The research shows that reinforcement and modelling of positive behaviours should be an important feature of work with young people. It further suggests that an effective pro-social modelling approach requires highly skilled staff, set in a context where work can be monitored. This work, while being the least visible, is in fact the most demanding, requiring constant vigilance, understanding and focus. Most of the day-to-day contact in secure facilities is by care staff or prison staff and, while many have excellent child care skills, this approach requires a more sophisticated level of knowledge and skill than generally they are expected to possess.
