Ministry of Justice statistics show that occupancy rates for YOIs, including 18-year-olds, are running at 94 per cent, exceeding the Youth Justice Board’s stated safe operating limit of 93 per cent.
The overall occupancy rate, including secure training centres (STCs) and secure children’s homes (SCHs), is running at 93 per cent. Individually, STCs are at 90 per cent capacity and SCHs at 89 per cent.
The overall rate represents a substantial increase on April’s rate of 86 per cent. But as recently as February the rate stood at 81 per cent. In January 2010 it was 73 per cent.
The YJB’s Annual Workload Data for 2009/10, published in January, states: "In order for the system to operate effectively, efficiently and at an acceptable level of risk, the YJB commissions places on the basis that the estate should operate at a maximum of 93 per cent occupancy rate."
But referring to the same report, YJB chief executive John Drew said: "In our latest workload data we mention ‘risk’, and this is about management matters such as closeness to home and the physical needs of children and young people, not their personal safety.
"We have assessed each and every establishment, and it is safe to run them all at 100 per cent capacity, but our ideal capacity is at 93 per cent because that allows us to achieve more with the young people, including ensuring sufficient capacity to meet the regional needs of the courts."
The issue of capacity is interrelated to falls in overall numbers of children in custody in recent years. Figures for May this year show there were 2,233 children, including 18-year-olds, in custody compared to 3,199 in May 2008. As a result of lower levels of custody, scores of places have been decommissioned to save money – but this means occupancy rates rise more quickly if custody levels rise again.
Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform said: "It is deeply concerning to see the youth custody estate running at maximum capacity, which is particularly shocking as the YJB is continuing to decommission beds in secure children’s homes.
"There is clearly a link between overcrowded conditions and the ability of prison staff to provide sufficient care and rehabilitation opportunities to those in their custody. Young offender institutes, the most dangerous holding facility of them all, are running at over their safe limit, meaning that we are teetering on the brink of a crisis in the youth justice estate."
The Howard League warned in April that the youth secure estate could be hit by overcrowding because of a lack of a coherent strategy to keep custody levels down.
Concerns about overcrowding come at a time when safeguarding issues in youth prisons are high on the political agenda. Last week, an 18-year-old became the seventh teenager to die in custody this year.
Drew added: "The safety of children and young people is at the forefront of all of our decisions and I am satisfied that the YJB has sufficient contingency to manage fluctuations in demand for custodial places. We will continue to work with all of our partners to deliver a more effective, efficient and child focused secure estate."
