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UK: HM Prisons Inspectorate reports

01 May 2005

Recent reports by Anne Owers, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, on the Young Offender's Institutions (YOI) at Stoke Heath and Brinsford were damning in their findings as to the treatment of young adults. At Stoke Heath, inspectors highlighted concerns about safety procedures and the inadequacy of provision for young adults in particular. Weaknesses in management of suicide and self-harm, anti-bullying and child protection measures were all identified. Some special cells were deemed to be unfit for their purpose. More than half of the young adults at Stoke Heath were locked up at any one point. One-quarter reported victimisation by staff. Owers noted that as well as local management failures there were clear systemic failures resulting from the under-resourcing of provision for young adults and the over-representation of vulnerable and mentally disturbed young people in the prison.

At YOI Brinsford, inspectors found high levels of use of force by staff, and repeated occurrence of unauthorised punishments. There were high levels of bullying and 43% of young adults felt unsafe. Brinsford had poor levels of cleanliness, and some double cells had unscreened in-cell toilets. The jail was found to be "struggling to provide appropriate levels of safety, respect and even basic cleanliness."

A review of HMP Pentonville found the jail to be "failing to provide the fundamentals of prisoner care, mainly due to inadequate management systems." Management systems were not adequate to ensure that agreed policies were being implemented safely or consistently. Inspectors noted bleak, often dirty cells, with no audible alarms, night staff without basic emergency procedure training and no awareness of prisoner location (all despite three suicides in the three months before the visit) 22 hour lock-up on some wings, and some areas of the jail were observed to be dirty and infested with vermin. Inspectors noted that "systems for delivering primary health care were amongst the poorest we had seen-and were neither safe nor effective."