A report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons has revealed that the most violent prison in England and Wales is the youth prison facility, HMP Feltham A, housing inmates as young as 15 years old, as reported by the BBC.

The level of violence and self-harm reported in this youth prison is reported to have tripled since the last inspection in 2022. In 2023, levels of violence were so high that the prison’s education program was closed from mid-August to early September. The report also expressed concern with the length of time some inmates spent in isolation. Seven boys in the prison were separated from their peers for more than 50 days, and two for more than 100. The use of force, usually to respond to outbreaks of violence among inmates, was also documented to have risen by 68%.

As a result of these increasing levels of violence, some of the boys have reported that ‘they did not want their families to visit in case violence broke out in front of them.’  Their education has also been impacted, as the boys are not placed in groups by their ability or interests, but rather to decrease the probability of violent outbreaks.

The 2022 report was optimistic in its review of the prison, following concerns raised in 2019, as reported by the Justice Gap. The improvement was partially attributed to the appointment of a new governor to the prison, and it was measured by good or reasonable progress in 8 of 9 areas of recommendations. Notably, the only area of the recommendations that was not addressed was increasing the safeguarding of the inmates.

Following the most recent report, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, said he was ‘very concerned’ to see the deterioration, but said it was ‘to the credit of the governor and her leadership team that there were signs that they had managed to arrest this decline’.

The report, however, concluded that ‘there had been a deterioration in standards with levels of violence now the highest of any prison in the country’.