The chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, found the Josephine Butler Unit, at Downview prison in Sutton, Surrey, is safe, calm and well-ordered, but criticised the routine use of strip searching, and the design of the unit.
The unit is one of three commissioned by the Youth Justice Board specifically to hold juvenile female offenders separately from adult offenders and more vulnerable young women. Most inmates are 17, and the unit also holds 18-year-olds near the end of their sentence.
The YJB originally planned to invest 16m in five centres, but scaled back the plans to put some of the money into improving existing secure accommodation for young women.A young womens unit at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre was opened recently, allowing the YJB to meet is pledge to remove all young women from adult prisons.
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