'Worryingly high' levels of violence remain at Werrington youth jail

An inspection of HMYOI Werrington was carried out in September

"Worryingly high" levels of violence remain at a young offender institution in Staffordshire that was the most violent in England and Wales.

HMYOI Werrington was still struggling to manage behaviour and provide a purposeful regime for children, a September visit by inspectors found.

In January inspectors said it had the highest number of assaults among children at any youth jail.

The government said it was working hard to address the concerns highlighted.

The facility near Stoke-on-Trent can hold up to 118 boys under the age of 18 and at the time when HM Inspectorate of Prisons visited, there were 55 children in residence.

Violence and conflict had become normalised at the facility, inspectors said.

Inspectors said they assessed progress against 12 recommendations made after their January visit, including three made by Ofsted, but found the institution was struggling.

"Progress had been insufficient or poor in eight areas and reasonable or good in just four areas," they said.

Despite receiving support from the youth custody service (YCS), Werrington "had become an establishment in difficulty", inspectors found.

"It was a very violent place where conflict and poor behaviour management led to children being locked up for far too long and often unable to access education or other interventions."

Violence and conflict normalised

Morale among staff was also low due to the "very high level" of assaults they had experienced and their role was reduced to keeping children apart to prevent violence.

"It was this drift and decline that was largely responsible for the insufficient progress noted in this report," they said.

"Violence and conflict had become normalised and it will take time to move to a culture where conflict is resolved without violence," they concluded.

A new violence reduction strategy had been introduced, the government said.

The appointment of a new governor three months before the latest inspection was credited with some improvements in staff morale, living conditions and healthcare.

However, Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, said while the positive work "will need time to come to fruition", he was disappointed the new governor would not be remaining in post and urged leaders to persevere with the changes that had been put in place, or risk more instability.

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said governors must "urgently work" to implement the report's recommendations.

"This review of progress from Werrington YOI shows alarming levels of violence in an institution struggling to provide a purposeful regime for children," he said.

"Both staff and the children are at risk due to high levels of assault and children are being locked up without access to education."

A spokesperson for the Youth Custody Service branch of the Ministry of Justice said violence had fallen since the most recent inspection and an improvement board had been set up.

"We have a new violence reduction strategy, more staff have been hired and young offenders are now offered a minimum of 24 hours in education each week to help boost rehabilitation, reduce violence and prevent reoffending."