Frances Crook, Howard League director, said: "Action must be taken immediately when there is concern about the safety of children in young offender institutions. It's worrying that it takes so long."
The call came after the Youth Justice Board announced 172 young offenders are to be removed from Ashfield Young Offenders Institution, near Bristol.
Discussions are taking place between the board, the Prison Service and Premier Prison Services, which runs Ashfield, about a withdrawal of offenders.
The decision was taken when the board's inspections showed that the institution was failing to meet the necessary standards.
In October, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons published results of a July inspection. Anne Owers, chief inspector of prisons, said Ashfield was "failing, by some margin, to provide a safe and decent environment for children, or to equip young people with the education, training and resettlement opportunities that are supposed to be at the core of their sentences".
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