A report on Cookham Wood YOI, based in Rochester, Kent, found accommodation was unsuitable and too few staff were familiar with working with young people.
There was also an over-ambitious programme to fill the establishment before it was ready after it changed from being a women's prison.
In addition, inspectors reported that:
* Safety procedures were "woefully" underdeveloped
* The safeguarding policy remained largely unimplemented
* Violence reduction and anti-bullying arrangements were in their early stages
Anne Owers, HM chief inspector of prisons, said the inspection raised some serious concerns.
"In hindsight, the establishment was a poor choice for this age group," she said. "Its physical layout was far from ideal. This was exacerbated by the fact that neither appropriately trained staff nor essential safety procedures were created and embedded by the time significant numbers of young people arrived.
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