Inspectors criticise Moorland YOI

Following an unannounced inspection of the South Yorkshire YOI and adult prison in December 2012, the chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick has raised concerns that a third of offenders are locked up during the working day.

His report said: “Insufficient priority was given to learning and skills and work, the working day was routinely interrupted by recreational PE, and non-attendance was insufficiently challenged.

“There was too little vocational training, and opportunities to accredit work skills were missed.”

Hardwick also found that work in the prison to reduce reoffending was “poor, with no strategy or comprehensive analysis of need”.

“Strategies around release were limited and lacked focus,” his report added.

The prison houses almost 1,000 prisoners, including 18- to 21-year-old young offenders who are integrated with the adult population.

Hardwick’s inspection report noted that the prison had undergone significant upheaval over the last three years, including the integration of adult and young offenders and the introduction of 300 sex offenders into the population.

Control of the prison is to be transferred to private provider Serco this year.

Hardwick said: “We found that Moorland had made some progress and was dealing with considerable uncertainties.

“That said, the pace of progress was disappointing and there remained much to do, some of it fundamental.

“The need to deal with these problems, and improve outcomes for prisoners, should not be lost in the transit to the private sector.”

The report said the integration of adult and young offenders had been managed safely, despite a fifth of all prisoners telling inspectors that they felt unsafe.

Older prisoners told inspectors they had been bullied by the young offenders, but the inspectors said “evidence from our survey and from a sample of bullying incidents did not support this impression”.