A report published by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke following an unannounced inspection of the Rochester-based facility from 9 to 20 September said force should only be used as a “last resort” and by staff appropriately trained to use restraint techniques.
Inspectors that visited the site, which holds up to 188 boys aged between 15 and 18, found force had been used on 832 occasions during the previous six months.
This was an increase of nearly 30 per cent compared with 578 occasions at the last inspection in 2018 and a higher figure than in other “comparable establishments”.
“Leaders and managers explained this increase through a combination of factors including the lack of regime, which impeded the formation of good relationships, and an inexperienced staffing group,” the report states.
The inspection revealed the number of times pain-inducing techniques had been used on children had fallen from eight incidents at the previous inspection to two at the visit in September.
However, inspectors said the use of such techniques on children was “inappropriate”.
Levels of self-harm were also found to have significantly increased year-on-year with 95 acts in the previous six months to September compared with 45 acts recorded over the same length of time in 2018.
In particular, the report highlights “prolific” acts of self-harm by one child that accounted for about 55 per cent of these incidents.
Despite the sharp increase, Clarke said levels of self-harm at Cookham Wood remained lower than other youth justice facilities.
He called for children at risk of self-harm and suicide to be identified at an early stage and for staff to be appropriately trained with access to proper equipment and support.
Clarke said the latest findings were evidence that Cookham Wood was “still not safe enough” and standards had declined to such an extent that outcomes were “insufficiently good” against all of the inspectorate’s benchmarks.
These covered four key areas of care, safety, purposeful activity and resettlement.
He said 28 per cent of children were locked in their cells during the school day, with most spending just five hours a day out of their cells during the week and two hours at weekends.
Access to the facility’s gym and library was restricted and only half of young people engaged in training and education courses completed them, he added.
“Despite these disappointing verdicts, local managers sought to provide some context in terms of their frustration at being unable to recruit and retain sufficient staff.
“New recruitment initiatives were under way and there was some hope that the impending closure of the adjacent Medway Secure Training Centre (STC) would lead to an influx of transferred staff in the new year,” he said.
Responding to the report, Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “When a child is in trouble with the law, we should do all we can to guide them away from crime and give them a brighter future.
“Yet again, this is not happening in Cookham Wood, where boys are spending days on end locked in their cells without fresh air and education.
“Operational chaos and incompetence are no excuse for failing to give children the basic things they need.”
