Officers `beat up teenage offenders'

FORMER TEENAGE inmates at a young offenders institution have accused prison officers of systematic assault, abuse, and "militaristic" treatment, in a report published today.

The ten ex-offenders, aged 15 to 17, were especially critical of treatment in the segregation unit at Portland Young Offenders Institution in Dorset.

They alleged officers struck, intimidated, and physically and verbally abused inmates.

The Howard League penal affairs group that carried out the report said: "We believe that ill-treatment and abuse has been a systematic part of the regime. The allegations and our research suggest that these were not isolated incidents easily dismissed as a `few bad apples' but were part of the structure and amounted to institutional abuse."

The Prison Service said last night that they would investigate any allegations of criminal behaviour but argued the report did not provide enough details to take immediate action.

Portland is a Victorian jail that holds about 560 prisoners, 200 of whom are aged 15 to 17, with the remainder under 21.

Martin Narey, the Director General of the prison service, said he had appointed a new governor in August partly because of his concerns about "militaristic practices".