Inspectors slam Woodhill prison

Six young offenders were wrongly placed in a high security prison at risk from adult inmates and staff, a damning report has found.

The report by the chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, finds Woodhill Prison enforced few of the Youth Justice Board’s statutory obligations on housing young people in prisons.Owers, Anne 2

The young offenders had contact with two adult prisoners who had been cleared to work as cleaners in the juvenile unit despite “totally inadequate” checks.

The three officers working on the juvenile unit had not been trained to work with children and had not been cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau to do so.

The report adds that the “constraints” of holding the young offenders in an adult prison were “too great to ensure that children could be held decently and safely”.

The young offenders, four of whom were on remand, were all potential category A prisoners.

The report highlights the absence of any facility in the juvenile secure estate to house such offenders and called for one to be established as soon as possible.

Owers said the governor should ensure adult prisoners had no contact with juveniles, and that CRB checks and training for staff in contact with young offenders were carried out.

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