Pepper spray used disproportionately against black boys in prison

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PEPPER spray has been used disproportionately against black boys since the Ministry of Justice authorised its rollout to prisons holding children, data obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform reveals.

Figures show pelargonic acid vanillylamide (Pava) spray, classified as a prohibited weapon under the Firearms Act, was used against 33 children up to the end of March 2026.

Of those, 18 were black and six were white.

Despite comprising only about 30 per cent of the population in Feltham A and Werrington, black children were on the receiving end about 55 per cent of the time.

Ministers were warned Pava spray was likely to be used disproportionately against black children before authorising its use.

The then justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said this was her “red line” but went ahead anyway.

Howard League legal director Gemma Abbott said: “Instead of setting up yet another means of monitoring the harm being done to children, ministers should urgently withdraw Pava from children’s prisons and stop the harm happening in the first place.”

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