Conditions at YOI getting worse, report warns
Fiona Simpson
Friday, February 16, 2024
The “inhumane treatment” of boys at Cookham Wood Young Offender Institution (YOI) has “got worse” over the last year, the setting’s independent monitoring board (IMB) has warned.
A report into conditions at the Kent YOI, which houses boys as young as 15, raises concerns over restrictions placed on children in the facility which have “heightened volatility at Cookham Wood”.
It reveals high numbers of boys on “keep apart” notices, which the IMB states “generates fearfulness and an expectation of violence amongst the boys”.
The IMB also warns that boys are still being kept in their cells for up to 22 hours a day – a concern raised in its previous 2021/22 report on the facility.
Meanwhile, frequent and last-minute changes to daily timetable due to a lack of available staff is described as a “source of constant frustration for the boys”.
“These restrictions heightened volatility at Cookham Wood and, the IMB believes, led directly to an increase in violent behaviour.
“They also greatly disrupted the boys’ education and rehabilitation programmes and, crucially, minimised opportunities for them to develop trust and understanding and to build healthy, positive relationships with each other and with adults,” it states.
IMB Cookham Wood co-chair, Keith Morrison, said: “Teenagers in Cookham Wood YOI were being routinely held on their own, locked in their cells for very long periods – isolated from their peers; some for up to 22 or 23 hours a day.
“We have reported this in previous years, and the situation has continued. In our last annual report, we described an inhumane regime; if anything, this year it got worse.”
The Howard League for Penal Reform said the IMB report highlights a “particularly bad year at Cookham Wood” and issued renewed calls for the YOI to be closed.
The annual report of Cookham Wood IMB was published today, and it makes grim reading.
— The Howard League (@TheHowardLeague) February 15, 2024
It covers the period from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023. pic.twitter.com/TCqCtvKaLH
In a statement on X, the organisation said: “We have warned for many years that Cookham Wood is unsafe and unfit for children. This IMB report underlines our view that the prison should be closed, with children who require secure accommodation being supported in more appropriate settings. Prison is no place for a child.”
A report based on an unannounced visit to Cookham Wood by HMI Prisons last year revealed “extremely concerning” issues, including prolonged solitary confinement of children and high numbers of weapons found inside the setting.
The latest episode of the CYP Now Podcast includes a discussion on an interview with Youth Justice Board chief executive Steph Roberts-Bibby. Listen here.
