Source · IMB Annual Report
Werrington
Year: 2021
Published: 11 Jan 2022
Type: Prison · Cat YOI
Key concerns
Positive findings
HMYOI Werrington operated with significant challenges during the reporting year, marked by the ongoing pandemic, major refurbishment, and a sharp increase in violence and disruption in the latter months. The Board raised serious safety concerns, noting restricted time out of room and staff shortages led to inhumane treatment. While healthcare was proactive and efficient, education struggled amidst disruptions, and the Board highlighted issues with the use of Rule 49 and long remand waiting times.
Safety statistics
| Indicator | This year | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths in custody | 0 | — |
| Self-harm incidents | 37 | 95 |
| ACCT cases opened | 101 | 98 |
| Prisoner assaults | 10 | 4 |
| Assaults on staff | 17 | 6 |
| Use of force | 633 | — |
| Drug finds | 9 | — |
Positive findings
The Board commends the care provided by reception staff, the efforts in producing induction booklets, and the effective intervention of the YCS management team and their stabilisation plan. Incidents of self-harm reduced considerably, and there were no suicides or deaths in custody. The healthcare team's work during the pandemic, including encouraging vaccine take-up and achieving micro-elimination for hepatitis C, is praised. The shift to a more vocational approach in education and the success of the dog training programme 'Restart' are also welcomed.
Key concerns
Safety
YOI Werrington has been unsafe for the young people and the staff since the beginning of July 2021, as a result of which we escalated our concerns to the Youth Custody Service (YCS) Executive Director, Helga Swidenbank, and Philip Copple, Director General for Prisons, on 28 July 2021.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The young people are mostly treated fairly but are not treated humanely, due to the restricted time out of room and staff shortages.
Education/Purposeful Activity
The Board does not consider the educational provision as adequate, due to some extent to the facilities available but also due to regular outbreaks of violence.
Segregation
Rule 49 is being used for young people who cannot be found a suitable placement in a group. Is this the correct use of this rule and is it fair?
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Are the courts keeping to time limits when remanding young people?
Equality/Diversity
If family is valued as an important influence, why are young people not allowed to have photographs of themselves with their family displayed in their rooms?
Resettlement/Release
What steps are the Youth Custody Service (YCS) taking to improve the institutional allocation process in court to reduce the unacceptable waiting time?
Regime/Time Out of Cell
As Werrington has recently had worryingly low amounts of time out of room, how can the Board be reassured that this will not continue?
Safety
The Board has been very concerned about the level of safety for both young people and staff, despite reporting this to the Governing Governor. At the end of July 2021, the Board wrote to Helga Swidenbank, Executive Director Youth Custody Service, about the situation at Werrington. It was felt that both young people and staff were unsafe from June to the end of the reporting period.
Safety
There have been 328 weapons fashioned by the young people from any means to hand in their rooms, which has indicated to the Board that searching has not been thorough in the reporting period, but it escalated in June/July 2021.
Staffing
The Board was dismayed to learn that the conflict resolution team had been disbanded by the previous Governor in late 2020. This left staff and young people without a conventional route to solving problems.
Staffing
There continues to be a worrying lack of trained negotiators at Werrington.
Estate/Conditions
The Board feels that many young people's rooms were not fit for habitation despite the daily checks.
Staffing
The Board is disappointed that only a few officers have been utilised for CuSP intervention, even though all the staff have been trained.
Equality/Diversity
Nearly half the population could be described as black, Asian and minority ethnic, whereas the staff were predominantly white. The Board feels that this mix is unsupportive.
Complaints/Property
Lost property during the laundry process was still a major reason for the young people’s complaints, the laundry bag splitting being the main reason for property loss.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Despite the previous governor’s efforts, the washing machines on the two main wings did not materialise, so the young people have had no means of washing their own clothes and thus achieving independence.
Education/Purposeful Activity
The Board is concerned that the virtual campus (online education) has not commenced, and that learners were not allowed their own email address.
Education/Purposeful Activity
The lack of a library facility has been specifically complained about by young people.
Resettlement/Release
Thirteen did not transition within a month of their 18th birthday, largely because of ongoing or adjourned trials. Over a third of the population at Werrington was on remand, with eight months being the longest period of time awaiting trial. The Board is very concerned that young people could be held for many months without trial and with the possibility of their innocence.
Resettlement/Release
A persistent problem encountered by the team is that the criteria for opening a bank account is very strict: they have to be in their last few months of their sentence and 18 years old. This makes financial independence incredibly difficult for the vast majority of those in custody in Werrington.
Applications to the IMB
| Category | Current | Previous |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation, including laundry, clothing, ablutions | 1 | 2 |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 0 | 0 |
| Discipline, including adjudications, IEP, sanctions | 2 | 3 |
| Equality | 0 | 0 |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 3 | 0 |
| Food and kitchens | 0 | 0 |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 1 | 0 |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 0 | 3 |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 1 | 1 |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 0 | 0 |
| Property within this establishment | 1 | 0 |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 0 | 1 |
| Sentence management, including HDC, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, re-categorisation | 4 | 1 |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 0 | 0 |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 |
Other reports for Werrington
Report details
- Establishment
- Werrington
- Type
- Prison · Cat YOI
- Report year
- 2021
- Published
- 11 January 2022
- Responsible body
- Werrington
Population
| Operational capacity | 118 |
Service providers
Education and purposeful activity
Novus
Estate management
Amey
Mental health/substance misuse
Inclusion (Midlands Partnership NHS Trust)
Physical healthcare
Practice Plus Group
Restart
Moorland Dog Rescue