Charity attacks failings at child prison

Young prisoners rioted at a privately-run youth jail that is be the subject this week of a damning report by penal reformers. The Prison Service confirmed yesterday that one officer had been struck and injured at Ashfield Young Offenders' Institution in Bristol yesterday.

The disturbances broke out at 8pm on Monday when 22 prisoners aged 16 to 18 refused to go back to their cells on A wing of Severn block. Staff regained control of the unit nearly six hours later and found damaged fixtures and fittings.

A spokesman for the Prison Service said: "There was never danger to the public and there were no injuries to any prisoners." Acting governor Kevin Lockyer said: "I would like to congratulate the staff of the prison for the professional and dedicated way they helped to resolve the incident."

Last May, the director general of the Prison Service used special powers to remove the director of Ashfield because of concerns over lack of control and discipline at the 400- inmate establishment, run by the commercial company Premier Prisons.

Tomorrow the Howard League for Penal Reform will publish a scathing report on Ashfield. The group accuses the Government of "putting profit before the welfare and safety of young people" at a jail where some guards are paid £15,250 a year, far less than officers in the public sector. They can earn up to £24,497, but at Ashfield the maximum is £16,250, the report says.

Charlotte Day, the league's policy officer, said there was a 50 per cent annual staff attrition rate at Ashfield, which was undermining the stability of the establishment. She said: "Simply to employ the requisite numbers of people, Premier has been taking on staff without experience of dealing with young people or of working in a custodial environment."

The Howard League also said Ashfield failed to provide programmes to alter inmates' offending behaviour and had insufficient training and education places. Premier pointed out that Ashfield housed "some of the most volatile prisoners in the prison system", and a spokesman said the company have 40 new officers in training.

Figures from the Prison Reform Trust showed Ashfield had the highest rate of assaults reported by inmates in the UK, at 74 per cent. The target rate is 9 per cent.