Werrington
Inside 'dangerous' youth jail with gangs, planned attacks and homemade weapons
The Independent Monitoring Board also says teenage inmates at YOI Werrington are being locked in their rooms for excessive periods of time equating to a form of 'torture'
Phil Corrigan
Werrington Young Offenders' Institute
A young offender institution has been branded 'a dangerous place' – due to problems with violence and gangs.
Teenage boys at YOI Werrington formed gangs, carried out planned assaults on fellow inmates and staff and fashioned hundreds of homemade weapons – with one 'serious and violent hostage-taking incident' in February 2021 resulting in £50,000 of damage.
These are among the findings of the Independent Monitoring Board's annual report on YOI Werrington for 2020/21.
The report says that Werrington was such an unsafe environment that the IMB escalated its concerns to both the executive director of the Youth Custody Service and the Director General for Prisons in July 2021.
Board members were also concerned that boys were sometimes being locked in their rooms for more than 22 hours a day – prolonged solitary confinement for children is prohibited under international law.
But the IMB also noted that there was 'good, professional care' by staff members, along with the installation of phones in all rooms to allow better contact with family and friends.
Sally Osborne-Town, chair of the IMB, said: "It is important to mention that violence continued throughout the year, often making YOI Werrington a dangerous place. The fashioning of homemade weapons, the planned assaults of boys on boys (or staff) and the deliberate vandalism of their own rooms occasionally made life at Werrington unsafe in the eyes of the IMB.
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"The board felt that 'the atmosphere of threat and intimidation', especially on the residential wings and in the education department, did not help young offenders to resettle into a crime-free future after release. Moreover, the extended periods of 22 hour lock-up amounted to prolonged solitary confinement of children, which is prohibited under international law."
A total of 328 weapons were fashioned by inmates out of objects in their rooms, indicating that searches were not thorough enough.
Assaults on both staff and young people increased in 2020/21. In August 2020 there were six assaults on staff, but in June/July 2021 there were 17. Assaults on young people rose from four to 10.
Board members were 'dismayed' to learn that the previous governor had disbanded the conflict resolution team in late 2020, leaving staff and young people 'without a conventional route to solving problems'.
The report also notes that the increase in violence was also partially due to the amount of time boys spent locked in their rooms, which the board equated to a form of 'torture'.
But there was a sharp reduction in the in the number of self-harm incidents, from 95 in the previous year to 37 in 2020/21.
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Board members also welcomed the fact that during the pandemic, regular contact with healthcare, chaplaincy and social work staff was maintained.
The Prison Service says that most of the violence issues were seen last summer, when YOI Werrington was dealing with a Covid outbreak. Since then the levels of violence have reduced significantly.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: "This report highlights a challenging but short-lived period when HMP Werrington carefully managed a rise in COVID-19 cases.
"Thanks to the hard work of staff, violence has reduced and children continue to receive education, time out of room and family visits."
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