100 violent assaults in six months at prison’s juvenile unit
MORE than 100 violent assaults took place in just six months at a young offenders unit where inmates choose to stay in their cells for their own safety, a damning inspection report has revealed.
Violence has increased at HM Young Offenders Institution at Parc Prison in Bridgend and one in three of the teenage inmates told inspectors they felt unsafe when they made an unannounced visit last December.
In the six months before the inspection, there were more than 100 violent assaults and officers had used force to restrain prisoners, who are aged 15 to 17, on 242 occasions.
The report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons reveals this was significantly more than in comparable establishments.
Inspectors found safety had deteriorated in the year since the last inspection and too many boys at risk of self harm were left isolated and alone in cells.
There were 22 attacks on staff in the same period – up from two – and four inmates told inspectors they chose to stay alone in their cells for safety.
The 67-page report into the unit, which held 45 boys under 18 at the time of the inspection, says: “It was a particular concern that procedures and practice to support child safeguarding and child protection had worsened significantly. Safety in general was not good enough. Some 42% of boys told us they felt victimised by others and 60% felt victimised by staff – a significant increase and worse than at comparable prisons.
“In our survey, nearly a third of boys indicated they felt unsafe. In the six previous months, although most were minor, there had been in excess of 100 violent incidents. As an example, the number of assaults on staff had increased from two to 22 when compared to the six months prior to our previous visit. At this inspection we found four boys self-isolating in cells for their own protection.”
Strategies to address violence and intimidation weren’t working, there was insufficient visible leadership on the unit and staff fail to tackle violence, inspectors found.
“Staff, whilst generally caring, lacked authority or confidence. All too often we saw staff failing in their duty to confront poor behaviour or set acceptable boundaries.”
A raft of recommendations include that staff should not use pain to restrain inmates, force to restrain them should only be used as a last resort and staff from the adult jail should not be routinely used to respond to incidents in the children’s unit.
On a more positive note inspectors said education and resettlement had improved since the last inspection and work with families was described as “excellent”. Teaching and learning were deemed “good” overall by Estyn, which is also involved in the inspections. Boys behaved well in class but punctuality was poor. The wellstocked library was used well.
On reoffending, 48% of boys said they thought things they have done or experienced in the unit had made them less likely to offend in the future.
In his introduction to the report, Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said in recent years inspectors were positive about the young offenders unit at Parc, described as “arguably one of the best such institutions” but said deterioration in safety and general standards must now be addressed.
“Systems and procedures were in place but they were not working. A firmer grip and visible leadership were needed urgently. Staff needed guidance and support and they needed greater confidence in establishing their authority and exercising better control over what was happening in the institution,” he added.
Responding to the report, Parc’s director Janet Wallsgrove said: “Work has been underway for some time to review our team, our training and structures to look after boys who are more violent than cohorts we have seen in the past. While the work can be rewarding, it is also incredibly difficult and complex and we have re-interviewed every member of staff on the juvenile unit to ensure they continue to share our mission to help young people to turn their lives around.
“As part of that process two members of staff have left us, we have recruited 10 new colleagues and we are supporting more inexperienced officers with mentors and coaching.
“Since December’s inspection, we have also made progress in changing our safeguarding arrangements, trained staff in a new developmental and psychological model – the Trauma Recovery Model – to help our team better support troubled young people, and rolled out new training in managing and minimising the use of restraint.
“These measures are showing encouraging signs and our most recent data for the first three months of 2017 show that violent incidents are down by 10%.
“There is more to do and we continue to work hard alongside our local authority partners, the Youth Justice Board and local youth offending teams to embed the substantial changes we have made and we will use the recommendations in this report to drive further progress over the coming months.”