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Third of prison officers lack safeguarding training

24 January 2011 3 mins read Neil Puffett Careers Social Care Safeguarding and child protection Youth Justice Youth custody

Nearly one in three prison officers working with vulnerable young offenders in custody have not completed training on safeguarding and assessing vulnerability, an investigation by CYP Now has found.

Campaigners have labelled the findings as "woeful" and "worrying", particularly at a time when safeguarding in youth prisons is high on the agenda with the second inquest under way into the suicide of 14-year-old Adam Rickwood at Hassockfield secure training centre. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is also examining the death of 18-year-old Michael Cartwright at Stoke Heath YOI last month.

The figures, provided by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) following a Freedom of Information request, show that 503 out of 1,747 staff (29 per cent) in state-run young offender institutions (YOIs) are yet to pass mandatory training courses. Figures are not available for the two privately run establishments - Ashfield YOI, run by Serco, and Parc YOI, run by G4S.

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