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They are kidnapped in the middle of the night: snatched from their beds, handcuffed and taken hundreds or even thousands of miles to remote and brutal prison camps - sometimes in a foreign country. Here they are routinely subjected to torture, sexual abuse and deprived of food and education. They are frequently held in solitary confinement for weeks on end. Many have also been locked up and made to sleep in outside dog cages. Some have died. Yet these are not terror suspects. They are young and vulnerable teenagers, typically aged 12-15. They have not been charged with - much less convicted of - any crime. The companies which incarcerate and abuse these children claim to be "turning round" the lives of troubled teenagers - yet the only official study (by the US government) found that for all their violence and pressure, their programmes make absolutely no lasting difference to the behaviour or problems of difficult teenagers.