‘Unacceptable’: Violent assaults on children surge 70% at youth prison

Inspectors find teenagers locked in cells during school day as concern mounts about youth custody system

A damning report on Cookham Wood YOI found that in some parts of the jail more than half of children were locked in cell during the school day (Getty Images)

The rate of violent assaults on children at a youth jail has surged in the past two years, with the prisons watchdog slamming conditions at the facility as “completely unacceptable”.

A Prison Inspectorate report on Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institution (YOI) in Kent finds that the facility, which holds 87 children aged from 15 to 18, has considerably worsened further since the last inspection in 2019 - which found that violence was “too high”.

The numbers of assaults and serious assaults on children were higher than in similar establishments, with violence having caused 49 recorded injuries in the previous 12 months, resulting in 29 admissions to hospital accident and emergency departments.

Taking into account the 40 per cent reduction in the prison’s population since the last inspection, the rate of assaults on children had increased by nearly 70 per cent - described by inspectors as a “significant concern”.

Purposeful activity such as training and education had deteriorated since inspectors last visited in 2019. In some parts of the jail, more than half of children were locked in cell during the school day and spent as little as four hours a day out of cell, and just two hours at weekends.

It comes amid mounting concern at the state of the youth custody estate. Two of the four children’s jails in England and Wales have been forced to close due to failings in recent years, while a third, Oakhill secure training centre in Milton Keynes, was subject to an “urgent notification” last month, which is triggered when inspectors have serious concerns.

Meanwhile, The Independent revealed last week that plans to open the UK’s first “secure school”, which the government has said is “critical” to its vision of youth custody, has been delayed for another year.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said of Cookham Wood: “For an institution providing services to children this inability to address failings was completely unacceptable.

“Admittedly the restrictions imposed by the pandemic had not helped, but it was hard to understand why the institution had not been more ambitious in, for example, providing a better (daily) regime, perhaps adopting an approach that mirrored more closely that adopted for children in the community or at other YOIs.”

Mr Taylor added: “We found low morale among staff, low standards, low expectations and a lack of energy and creativity that could engage and motivate children to use their time at Cookham Wood usefully, despite holding only half the young people it was resourced to hold.”

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said Cookham Wood was “no place for a child”.

He aded: “It is time for a new approach that stops children being hurt and helps them to realise their potential. It starts with keeping them out of prison and giving them the care and support they need.”

A new governor and six senior managers have been appointed to work at Cookham Wood since 2019 and it is said to be implementing a plan which prioritises reducing violence, but Mr Taylor said he was “not convinced that staff were fully aware or engaged with this vision”.

A Youth Custody Service spokesperson said: “Access to education and time out of cells will increase as we lift the remaining pandemic restrictions, which saved thousands of lives. But we are taking further immediate action to drive improvement at Cookham Wood - recruiting more staff, reducing capacity, refurbishing the building and improving support for vulnerable prisoners.”