HMYOI Cookham Wood is ‘in limbo’ following an announcement in March that the prison would be repurposed as an adult facility, says a report from the Chief Inspector of Prisons. This decision was made due to population pressures facing the adult prison estate along with claims that Cookham Wood could ‘no longer’ serve the complex needs of young prisoners.
The report, released yesterday, found that during the independent review in April, there was ‘little clarity’ about the future of the institution. Staff had been told ‘nothing’, and the decision had not been communicated to the Governor until shortly before it was made. Recent expenditure on classrooms and training ‘dozens of youth justice workers’ would now be wasted.
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, highlighted the ‘significant impact’ the decision to repurpose the facility at Cookham Wood had on children and staff. ‘There are legitimate reasons for closing sites that are poorly performing but I remain concerned that decisions affecting children in custody are being driven by the need to find accommodation for adult prisoners. What is needed is a coherent plan to improve the provision on offer to these children so they can go on to lead crime-free lives when they are released.’
Cookham Wood had been the subject of an Urgent Notification last year, as it was ‘in crisis’, with widespread weapon making leading to a quarter of children reporting that they felt unsafe. In addition, there was evidence that ‘solitary confinement of children had become normalised’ with over a quarter of residents being completely segregated from the main population and some children being held in their cells for several days at a time.
However, the most recent report found reasonable progress across three areas including a more cohesive management team, improved living standards in the accommodation, and the governor had prioritised the delivery of education within the prison. Nevertheless, there were still problems with children being kept in their cells for too long with them averaging less than three hours out of their cells each day over the last six months. It was also found the lack of activity meant it was ‘very difficult to motivate children to behave well.’
The report explains that many young prisoners were due to be moved to other youth offender institutions, but there were also twenty 18-year olds that were due to move to adult prisons.
