Reports published 15 July

HMYOI Werrington

Type of inspection: independent review of progress

Dates of inspection: 8 and 13-15 May 2024

Summary of findings: Safeguarding procedures had improved since our last inspection and the safeguarding team had built a good relationship with the local authority. Frontline staff shortages had been addressed and provided children with a more consistent daily routine and better access to key services, including education. The Youth Custody Service and new managers from the education provider supported improvements in education. Children could now be allocated to classes based on their needs and aspirations and keep-aparts almost halved meaning education could change from part-time to full-time.

The establishment’s ongoing challenge was to safely reduce the number of small groups across all units, which fluctuated daily due to incidents. Children on A or C wing still had limited time out of cell and took part in activities in small groups of peers. Some children on the site still had as low as 2 hours out of cell.

Points to note: Poor day-to-day behaviour was not consistently challenged, play fighting went unaddressed and, although several serious staff injuries were caused by children biting them during restraint, no coaching took place with staff on how to prevent this. Many operational staff lacked experience, with just under half having less than two years in their role, and new staff needed time and support to develop good relationships with the children in their care.

Read the report: Werrington

HMP Lindholme

Type of inspection: independent review of progress

Dates of inspection: 13-15 May 2024

Summary of findings: Lindholme failed to address the three main concerns of the last inspection: drugs, sentence progression and education, training and work. Key work had barely improved, many prisoners still had no key worker. Staffing in the OMU was slowly increasing, but there was still not enough support or opportunities for prisoners to progress through their sentence. The jails core function as a training prison was failing and many prisoners remained unemployed.

All night staff now carried ligature knives but lacked awareness of the needs of the most vulnerable individuals in their care. Several did not know the location of the nearest defibrillator in case of emergency. Good efforts to improve living conditions, with better cell ventilation and fans being distributed, had been made.

Points to note: The serious problem of illicit drug use had worsened, with 40% of prisoners randomly selected for drug testing proving positive in the last two months. Lindholme had still not received funding for enhanced gate security and leadership to tackle the drugs problem was lacking.

Read the report: Lindholme