Inspectors visiting Wetherby YOI, in West Yorkshire, raised concerns with the setting’s governor after watching video footage which showed that on two occasions “an all-male team was used to cut or remove the clothes from a vulnerable girl” to prevent self-harming.
A female officer should have been present during the search, inspectors have said, as charities have called for all girls to be removed from the YOI which is one of three settings holding a total of seven girls currently in custody in England and Wales.
Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, said: “We were deeply shocked to find adult male officers restraining and stripping an incredibly vulnerable girl not once but twice.
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