Prison and Probation Ombudsman has announced the beginning of Operation Deerness, the most recent investigation into the abuse that took place at Medomsley Detention Centre between 1961 and 1987.

This development, like its predecessors, could not have occurred without the work of late PAS Trustee, Eric Allison, who campaigned in his writing to recognise the terrible sexual ordeals suffered by the boys at Medomsley.

A spokesperson for PAS said, “Eric was always concerned about the kids in Medomsley who’d been abused.   He persuaded Simon [Hattenstone; Guardian features writer] to research it with him.  It was their joint work on it that led to various inquiries into the abuse, of which Deerness is the most recent.”

As Hattenstone says in his obituary of Eric,

‘Our work on the abuse of children in Medway secure training centre contributed to the security giant G4S being stripped of its contract to run the children’s prison. Our 2011 investigation into sexual abuse at Medomsley detention centre led to Operation Seabrook, one of the largest single abuse inquiries in the UK, with more than 1,600 former inmates coming forward to report allegations of abuse. Nearly all our stories came from Eric’s brilliant contacts, who were as loyal to him as he was to them.’