Inspectors attack youth jail regime

Conditions at a youth jail are in breach of the Children Act, with "disturbing" levels of assaults and youngsters locked up for 20 hours a day, the chief inspector of prisons warns today.

Anne Owers was "alarmed" by the frequency with which staff used control and restraint techniques on inmates at Onley young offenders' institution near Rugby in Warwickshire.

Unsentenced children, who were allowed out of their cells for only four hours a day, suffered an "impoverished regime ... which was one of the worst we have seen", the chief inspector says in a report published today. "Inspectors recorded a high level of fights and assaults, and a failure properly to address bullying and vulnerability. Overall, we felt that Onley was a long way from providing a safe environment for all its young people; indeed for some vulnerable children we did not believe that it would have met the requirements of the Children Act."

The report on the 640-inmate jail, which holds about 120 inmates aged 15 to 17 and about 400 aged 18 to 21, says staff failed to understand essential elements of child protection. "The level of assaults was very disturbing and the use of control and restraint techniques alarmingly frequent," it says. "We received a high number of complaints from young prisoners that they felt intimidated by staff."

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "Even by the standard of critical reports, this is utterly damning. The Prison Service is not providing safe or productive regimes for children in custody."