Principles that underlie the strategy and planning for youth in custody are that custody should be used only as a last resort; the punishment of custody is in the loss of liberty only and not in the nature of the conditions of custody; since secure facilities are expensive to build or renovate, changes in the number and design of these facilities must occur gradually; the regimes and interventions provided in custody should be based on empirical evidence of what is effective in preventing reoffending; and the rights of youth in custody must be respected and upheld. Under a strategy for fulfilling these principles, plans for reconfiguring the secure estate for youth for 2005-06 to 2007-08 will address the following problems: the uneven distribution of juvenile secure facilities across England and Wales; an excessive number of juvenile facilities with large, traditional cell-block designs on sites shared with adult prisoners; a staff inadequately trained in positive, youth-centered care and management; and the lack of high-quality vocational and academic education and training. The plan will not only remedy these circumstances in secure facilities but will also focus on expanding the number and quality of community-based programs for young offenders who do not require secure custody as well as those youth who are released into the community from secure custody.