Werrington youth jail is England's most violent, report finds

The use of force on teenagers at HMYOI Werrington has increased since a previous inspection, a report said

A young offender institution in Staffordshire has higher levels of violence than any other in England and Wales, a report has found.

Children at HMYOI Werrington say they carry knives because staff cannot keep them safe, inspectors said, and almost 400 weapons were recovered in a year.

The number of assaults among children was also the highest of any youth jail. Safety provision is rated poor.

Changes have been made to tackle the concerns, the government said.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons visited the site near Stoke-on-Trent, which holds sentenced and remanded children aged 15 to 17 years of age, in January and February this year.

Of a prison population of 64, inspectors found 263 "keep apart" lists, which indicate which individuals risk becoming violent if mixed, which the prison was "overly reliant" on.

"This ineffective and harmful arrangement was, in effect, a reactive process of risk avoidance, rather than risk management, and had come to totally dominate life in Werrington," Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said.

Keeping the children apart had a "severely detrimental effect" on the provision of education, the report found

Records showed up to 105 children had been assaulted - with 31 needing hospital treatment - and there were 82 attacks on staff in the six months before the inspection.

Keeping the inmates apart had a "severely detrimental effect" on the provision of education, with learning being provided according to which children could mix with one another.

The site was previously inspected in 2020 and 20 recommendations, nine of which were about areas of key concern, were made.

Provision of care has since dropped from good to reasonably good, inspectors said.

'Lost its way'

Encouraging signs that were highlighted were that there is a "safe and secure environment" which reduced the risk of self-harm and suicide; those at risk were identified at an early stage and given the necessary support.

And inspectors found "innovative practice" towards sexual health services.

Overall, Mr Taylor said it was a "disappointing" visit.

"We were left with the sense that Werrington had lost its way and needed to rediscover a sense of purpose," he said.

A spokesperson for the Youth Custody Service branch of the Ministry of Justice said "immediate measures" had been taken.

They included cutting the number of children at Werrington and giving staff extra training on tackling violence, they added.

The Howard League for Penal Reform said the report was "one of the most horrifying" it had seen, with the prison being barely half-full at the time of the visit, yet children were still in danger.

"It is a 69-page document of failure that could be summarised in just seven words: prison is no place for a child," chief executive Andrea Coomber said.