According to inspection reports, young criminals carry weapons in the most attacked youth prisons in England and Wales.
An unannounced inspection of His Majesty’s Young Criminal Agency (HMYOI) Wellington, conducted between January 24th and January 31st-February 4th, showed the agency’s performance in the area of safety and purposeful activities. I found it bad.
Located in Staffordshire, West Midlands, England, the facility accommodated 66 young prisoners between the ages of 15 and 18 at the time of inspection.
During the 12 months prior to the test, 399 weapons were discovered, with an average of about 6 weapons per child.
The children told inspectors that they had weapons because the staff did not trust their ability to keep them safe.
The report also said that 16% of children felt unsafe during the investigation and 38% felt unsafe at some point.
In the six months prior to the test, there were 105 assaults among the children and 82 assaults against the staff. This represents a higher rate of assault than “other prisons in England and Wales”.
Some of these attacks, such as mass attacks and the use of weapons, are serious and 31 children are taken to hospital.
However, prisons have had some success in reducing violence, and the number of incidents in November and December was a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.
According to the report, instead of risk management, prisons were overly dependent on the “risk aversion reaction process” by creating “keep away” lists to separate individuals or groups.
Inspectors found staff managing a list of 263 of the 66 children, and the requirements were “continuously changing.”
The report said the staff spent most of their time managing the list that “influenced every aspect of children’s lives.”
“Assigning children to a course was not based on needs or desires, but on what they could mix together. As a result, children became frustrated and freed. I did. “
Charlie Taylor, Prison’s Chief Inspector of HM, said the arrangement was “ineffective and harmful” and “had complete control over life in Wellington.”
The level of care in prison has also dropped from “good” to “moderately good” since the last test in 2020, but inspectors said they found “some encouraging signs.”
The resettlement aspect of the prison was rated as “moderately good” at the same level as in 2020.
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Lily Zhou is a freelance writer who mainly covers the British news of The Epoch Times.