Prison Series: Young Offender Institutions for boys
What are Young Offender Institutions?
It is a secure accommodation where children and young adults would be located if they are in custody. Young offender institutions are for boys aged 15 to 17 years old, and young men aged 18 to 21 years old. In England and Wales, offenders aged under 18 years old are held in separate units from 18 to 21 year olds.
These institutions are governed by the Young Offender Institution Rules. A child, their parent or guardian, legal representative or youth offending team can challenge their placement decision.
There are five young offender institutions in England and Wales. These include Cookham Wood, Feltham, Parc, Werrington and Wetherby. This article will be looking at the institutions of Feltham, Werrington and Wetherby in depth.
The Young Offender Institution Rules 2000:
3. Aims and General Principles
= Help prepare the offender for their return to the outside community
= Programme of activities (develop personal responsibility, education interests, training)
= Fostering links between the offender and the outside community
6. Privileges
= Appropriate to ages, characters, and circumstances.
= Time outside of the cells and in association with another.
= Meet specified standards in their behaviour or performance in work/activities.
= Procedures to be followed which will enable privileges to be granted.
17. Correspondence with legal advisers and courts
= Correspond with legal adviser and court - only be opened, read or stopped by the governor by provisions of the rule
= Reasonable cause to believe there is an illicit enclosure and shall be dealt with by this rule
= Opened, read and stopped if contents endanger prison or young offender institution security, or the safety of others
= Present any correspondence, informed of enclosure being read or stopped
= Request be provided with writing materials
25. Female inmates
= Permit a female inmate to have her baby with her in a young offender institution
= Baby maintenance and care provided
33. Religious services
= Divine service for inmates belonging to the Church of England every Sunday, Christmas Day and Good Friday
= Celebrations and weekday services can be arranged
= Divine service for inmates of the denomination at such times arranged
38. Education
= Programme of class teaching or private study
= Programme of evening and weekend educational classes or private study
= Educational activities will foster personal responsibility and inmate interest and skills
= Participation in education or training courses at least 15 hours a week
= Aged 17 or over with special educational needs arrangements for education will be appropriate to their needs
= Female inmates aged 21 or over-committed to prison for default or detained in young offender institutions reasonable facilities shall be afforded
40. Work
= Practical
= Foster personal responsibility
= Help the return back to the community
= No inmate shall be set to do work that is NOT authorised by the Secretary of State
44. Maintenance of order and discipline
= Stricter order and discipline - dress, opinion, conduct
= Assessed suitable for it
= Fit in mind and body
50. Use of force
= NOT use force unnecessarily
= NOT act deliberately in a manner calculated to provoke an inmate
52. Restraints
= under restraint to prevent the inmate from injuring himself or others, damaging property or creating a disturbance.
= The governor may NOT order an inmate 17 and under to be put under restraint. Only wear handcuffs if necessary.
= Notice of order given to a member of the board of visitors, medical officer or practitioner.
= Not kept under restraint longer than necessary or longer than 24 hours without a direction in writing.
= Restraint is not for punishment.
53. Compulsory testing for controlled drugs
= SECTION 16A Prison Act 1952 power to test inmates for drugs, the inmate is to provide a sample for purposes of ascertaining whether he has controlled drugs within the body
= Sample: urine or description of sample in authorisation by the governor.
= Refusal to provide a sample may lead to disciplinary proceedings being brought against him.
= Fresh sample, free from adulteration.
= Reasonable necessary to prevent or detect its adulteration or falsification.
= Degree of privacy for providing the sample. Compatible with the need to prevent or detect adulteration or falsification of the sample.
60. Governor punishments
= Guilty of an offence against discipline: caution, forfeiture, removal for a period not exceeding 21 days, extra work outside the working week, stoppage or deduction from earnings, offence against discipline committed by an inmate, removal from the wing or living unit, short term or long term additional days (not exceeding 42 days)
= Run consecutively the charges
= Award of a caution
= Guidelines Secretary of State issues as level of punishment
67. General duty of officers
= Conform to the rules, and regulations of young offender institutions, assist and support the governor in the maintenance
= Lawful instructions
= Inform the governor of abuse or impropriety
74. Prohibited articles
= convey into or thro into or deposit
= intent that it shall come into possession of any inmate
= article conveyed, thrown or deposited shall be confiscated
Feltham Young Offender Institution:
Feltham A is a young offender institution for boys aged 15 to 18 years old. There are nine units for young people, holding around 20-3- individuals. Almost all cells are single occupation with integral sanitation and television.
REDRESS: Discrimination incident report forms and complaints were not investigated and responses were inadequate. 128 complaints and 25 discrimination incident report forms submitted by children - answered with prescribed timescales and appeal been made.
SAFEGUARDING: Brief staff on emergency procedures during the night and provide reference guides. Ambulances were called when the emergency code was used.
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND FAITH: Monitor data in order to identify and address unequal treatment. Outcomes were discussed in strategic meetings across the establishment and areas of concern escalated to monthly meetings.
EDUCATION, SKILLS AND WORK: Rigorous approach to identify weaknesses in teaching and assessments. Tailor professional development to help individuals improve. Personal learning plan related to the course studied. Staff has received training to support children with complex social, emotional and behavioural needs. Access to 20 hours per week.
HM Youth Institution Werrington
Young offender institution near Stoke on Trent, holding boys aged between 15 and 18 years old. Address deficits and encourage improvements. There are 89 children currently in the institution, with an operational capacity of 92 inmates.
Facts and figures
Over 1/4 children said they felt unsafe.
388 specific keep apart instructions for under 90 children dominated life in the institution.
37% felt cared for by the staff
Shortfall of operational staff has hindered development of effective relationships with children. Safeguarding the children has disarrayed - delays in allegations of abuse refer to local authorities. Behaviour management systems were ineffective.
Inspection finding: poor for safety, not sufficient good for care, poor for purposeful activity and reasonably good for resettlement.
SUICIDE AND SELF-HARM PREVENTION: 31 recorded incidents of self harm in the last 6 months involving 19 children. 37 assessment, care in custody and teamwork cases opened in 6 months. Constant supervision used four for three times in the last 6 months.
BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT: Ineffective. Incentives for good behaviour were not delivered, few consequences for poor behaviour and serious in nature unchallenged. Welfare development and enhancement unit was used to manage children with high levels of complexity due to challenging behaviour or vulnerabilities.
THE USE OF FORCE: 383 incidents of force used on children in 6 months, reduction of 1/5 since the last inspection. Use of force reports is overdue, 69 reports from staff and 60 injuries, to children forms post restraint. Incidents with health care staff in attendance. Samples of force that we viewed proportionate, not justified or has general concerns.
EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY: Unfair treatment. Children with disabilities were likely to experience separation and black children are more likely to be involved in use of force. Some complaints had not been investigated at all and others were delayed. Muslim children had negative views about the quality of food and items available in the prison shop.
HMYOI Wetherby and Keppel Unit:
Wetherby is the largest young offender institution in the country with 143 children (including 3 girls). The Keppel unit is a therapeutic provision, it is seen as another wing rather than for vulnerable children. Transform behaviour management systems to focus on rewards and promote positive behaviour.
KEY CONCERNS:
Keppel unit had lost its identity, children and staff had an unstable relationship, and provisions were indistinguishable. Define the purpose of Keppel unit and put services in place to meet the needs of children.
Induction programme was rarely completed by boys. Engage children and understand the key aspect of prison life.
Intelligence: Security risk remained. Backlog of phone monitoring. Monthly security assessments were weak and impact of risk had not been considered.
Equality: It needs assessment, strategy and action plan. Guidance for staff on how to support children from protected groups and data used. Key differences in provision and outcome for girls in the population.
POSITIVE PRACTICE: Fallow time during COVID-19 had been effective to produce high quality, interactive and printed materials to support prisoners. Regular clinical audit of hormonal preparations to aid sleep, prescribe not intended by the licence for use. Oversight of prescribing to ensure safety.
PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS: No policies or guidance for staff on available support. Over a 1/3 children main site and 19% of Keppel were from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. During one to one interviews, they described discrepancies in their treatment. White children were less likely to be punished for poor behaviour, their requests would be dealt with quicker and made inappropriate comments. There were founded disability in the inmates, with around 80% saying they were getting the support needed. Learning disabilities and difficulties were managed by the education team and given individual support. Different treatment between girls and boys - reasonable regime but less time out the cell.
CONTACT: 68% said that someone had helped them to keep in contact with family or friends. Children have in-cell telephones with the aim to build family relationships. Face to face visits during the pandemic was reduced to one hour an evening. Secure video calls facilities - 430 per month.
BULLYING AND VIOLENCE REDUCTION: Lower at this institution in comparison to others. All children involved were interviewed - but did not identify the cause, addressing concerns and learning lessons. Referrals were made to the conflict resolution team. 4 full time conflict resolution staff has been allocated to work with the safeguarding team. 4 child peer mentors had been recruited to support the staff.
Until the next Legal Thought,
Elicia Maxwell
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