Plan to link West Yorkshire prisons criticised

In her report published this week, Anne Owers said New Hall women's prison in Wakefield, which holds 24 young offenders and 24 juveniles, had a "huge task" ahead of it and the decision to amalgamate it with Askham Grange open prison should be questioned.

The report, which followed an inspection last November, also highlighted poor relationships between staff and prisoners, with a disproportionate number of male staff for a women's prison.

While the quality and quantity of education and work was deemed "satisfactory", Owers found that some staff had outdated and inappropriate attitudes to women, especially those with mental health issues.

She said: "The task facing New Hall is huge and it is therefore of considerable concern that, not long after this inspection, it was announced that it was to amalgamate with Askham Grange prison near York.

"The wisdom of making New Hall's already difficult task more challenging by adding responsibility for this distant satellite must be open to question."

But Phil Wheatley, director general of the national offender management service, said clustering the New Hall with the open prison would make better use of resources.

He said: "Clustering New Hall with Askham Grange, a high performing prison, will improve links between the closed and open prison. It will make the best use of available resources to address prisoners' offending behaviour and keep the public safe."