Young Adults & Custody

Know this in 60 seconds

→ At 18 you are treated as an adult by the courts. Under 18s who are held go to a secure centre for children, not an adult prison.

→ Some 18 year olds stay in the children's secure estate until they turn 19. In the year to March 2025, 110 young adults aged 18 were held there.

→ Remand rules are different for adults. Adults can be remanded for reasons such as previous convictions, or a risk of not turning up to court or of offending on bail.

→ Sentencing guidance says young adults, typically aged 18 to 25, are still developing, and judges can take that into account when they sentence.

→ The campaign group T2A says the law on remand for young adults does not reflect their developing maturity.

What changes at 18

If you are under 18 and a court sends you to custody, you go to a secure centre for children, not an adult prison. At 18 you are an adult in law, and you move towards the young adult part of the adult secure estate.

That move is not always at 18. In December 2022, ministers decided, because of pressure on the adult secure estate, to delay the automatic move until age 19. So some 18 year olds stay in the children's secure estate until their remand or sentence ends or they turn 19, whichever comes first.

In the year to March 2025, 110 young adults aged 18 were held in the children's secure estate. That was down 27% on the year before, but still the second highest number in ten years. 18 year olds made up 21% of the children's secure estate that year.

Remand for young adults

Remand means being held in custody before your case is decided. For adults, a court can remand you for reasons such as previous convictions, a risk that you will not turn up to court, or a risk that you will offend while on bail. Bail is meant to be the starting point.

Official figures show that 15,386 people of all ages were on remand in prison in England and Wales on 30 June 2026, which was 18% of the prison population. That was down 13% on a year earlier. An official count of 18 to 20 year olds on remand was not available when this page was written, so the number below comes from the campaign group T2A, which used Ministry of Justice data.

In 2018, almost 3,000 18 to 20 year olds were remanded to prison before trial (T2A). T2A could not give a figure for how many young adults later avoided a custodial sentence, because that data was not available. For children remanded to youth detention, the official figure is that 62% did not then get a custodial sentence.

Life inside on remand

No official report on what remand is like for young adults specifically was available when this page was written. The Inspectorate of Prisons reported in March 2026 that remand prisoners of all ages have poorer outcomes, and that too few prisons have a plan for them.

T2A's earlier report describes remanded young adults as often facing very poor regimes and being at risk of violence and self-harm.

If you are scared or being hurt, tell your solicitor, a member of staff or a trusted adult.

Maturity and your future

The Sentencing Council, which writes sentencing guidance for England and Wales, says young adults, typically aged 18 to 25, are still developing neurologically. They may be less able to weigh up the results of their actions, hold back impulses and limit risk-taking. It says emotional and developmental age matters at least as much as age in years, and that an immature young person may find it particularly hard to cope with custody.

This guidance applies when a judge or magistrates decide a sentence. Age and lack of maturity can be a reason to reduce it.

The campaign group T2A argues that nothing like this applies before a trial. It says the law on remand for young adults does not reflect their developing maturity, and it quotes a magistrate calling the move from children's to adult rules a cliff edge. It also says the typical adult male brain is not fully formed until at least the mid-20s. The Sentencing Council itself refers to 18 to 25 and does not give a single age.

Different views: should young adults be remanded to prison?

This is a debated question, and the page does not take a side.

The case against. T2A argues that young adults are still maturing and that the law on remand does not reflect that. It says bail support for young people drops away at 18, which makes custody on remand more likely, and that regimes on remand are poor.

The case for. The law lets courts remand an adult for reasons such as a previous conviction, a risk of not turning up to court or a risk of offending on bail, and sometimes for the person's own protection. Courts decide each case on its facts.

What is missing. Published data on how often each reason for remand is used, and on how many young adults later avoid custody, was not available when this page was written. Official remand numbers for all ages fell 13% in the year to June 2026.

Your rights in plain English

The Youth Justice Charter rights on our YOIs and Remand page are for children under 18. They do not cover adults. For young adults, here is what official sources confirm.

→ Free legal advice. If you are arrested, you have the right to free legal advice at the police station. You can ask for the duty solicitor, who is independent of the police.

→ Bail first. For adults, bail is the starting point. A court can refuse it for listed reasons, such as previous convictions or a risk of not turning up or of offending on bail. Ask your solicitor to explain the reasons and whether you can apply again.

→ Under 18s are different. Under 18s who are remanded go to a secure centre for young people, with custody limits of 56 days in a youth or magistrates' court or 182 days in the Crown Court.

→ If you are 18 and in the children's estate. You can stay there until your remand or sentence ends or you turn 19. Ask your youth justice worker what applies to you.

This page is general information, not legal advice.