Mental Health
Repeated
Acute lack of secure mental health hospital beds.
Resettlement/Release
Unacceptable delay in transferring young people aged over 18 to the adult estate, causing heightened anxiety and difficulties in placement.
Equality/Diversity
Disquiet among male prisoners due to perceived preferential and different treatment of female prisoners (e.g., direct arrival, superior accommodation, own clothing).
Source wording under review
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
Lengthy delays in maintenance work continue: for example, delays in repairing out of order cells and the never-ending saga of the kitchen floor. This is unacceptable. Throughout Covid the standard of cleanliness at Wetherby was excellent. However, as the pandemic seems to be easing, there is slippage. It would be unfortunate if this is allowed to continue.
Staffing
The lack of permanence within the senior management team is of great concern to the Board.
Complaints/Property
However, since the start of Covid-19, Barnardo’s have been far less visible. How can the Governor make sure that all young people have an equal opportunity to access advocacy support?
Safety
Repeated
The completion of the new ACCT v6 document presents, for many staff, a substantial challenge and too many completion errors and omissions still remain.
Safety
Repeated
High levels of violence between young people and against staff, with a concerning number of weapons found and used in assaults.
Source wording under review
Safety
Repeated
The lack of routine activation, in many instances, of body-worn cameras (BWC) when using managing and minimising physical restraint (MMPR) techniques remains a concern. This means there is a failure to capture the lead-up and full incident so some MMPR reviews are unable to evaluate evidence sufficiently.
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
Anson, the segregation wing, experiences extremes of temperature, too hot in summer and too cold in winter. At times, especially for young people observing Ramadan, the heat on some days was excessive and unhelpful. Benbow also has extremes of temperature.
Food/Catering
Repeated
The breakfast pack on Anson (segregation unit) is delivered at 4:30 pm the previous day with the evening meal.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Time out of cell for vulnerable young people on Keppel unit remains unacceptably low, especially at weekends, and for new admissions on the RCU.
Other
Induction staff are frustrated by the regular lack of information which should be supplied by youth offending teams when young people arrive in reception. This means that staff do not have sufficient information during their first few days to evaluate young people’s needs and behaviour. They are, therefore, required to make enquiries to a Manchester-based centre for this information.