Care declined at Cookham Wood YOI, leaving all four tests not sufficiently good

HMYOI Cookham Wood was still not safe enough and outcomes for children had slipped, inspectors found. HM Inspectorate of Prisons published its report on the young offender institution in February 2020.

Inspectors judged outcomes not sufficiently good against all four of their tests. A year earlier, they had rated care reasonably good. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke wrote that “the situation had deteriorated” since that visit.

Inspectors visited between 9 and 20 September 2019. Cookham Wood held boys aged 15 to 18, and it held 171 children at the time against an operational capacity of 188. It also held 20 young adults over 18, eight of whom were awaiting places in the adult estate.

Grades and the pressures behind them

The inspectorate judges establishments holding children against four healthy prison tests: safety, care, purposeful activity and resettlement. Purposeful activity covers education, work and time out of cell. Each test receives one of four grades: good, reasonably good, not sufficiently good or poor.

Safety, purposeful activity and resettlement stayed not sufficiently good, as at the last inspection in December 2018. Care fell from reasonably good to not sufficiently good.

Progress on earlier advice was weak. Inspectors had made 50 recommendations in 2018. The prison had achieved seven, partially achieved one and not achieved 42.

Local managers told inspectors of their frustration at failing to recruit and keep enough staff. New recruitment work was under way. Managers also hoped that the planned closure of the nearby Medway Secure Training Centre would bring transferred staff in the new year.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons said the staff shortages could not have come at a worse time. Cookham Wood was running near capacity because children were being diverted from Feltham A YOI. That institution was responding to an Urgent Notification the inspectorate had issued earlier in 2019.

At this inspection, the situation had deteriorated to the extent that outcomes were now insufficiently good against all our healthy prison tests.

Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

Violence, force and separation

Violence remained high, and some of it was serious. The prison had work in place to resolve conflict, but staff shortages and regular redeployment held much of it back. Too much low-level poor behaviour went unchallenged.

Inspectors also criticised an overreliance on reactive keep-apart lists, which stop named children from mixing. These lists hindered a full regime and added to significant amounts of lock-up.

Use of force had increased and was high. More than half of incidents required full restraint techniques, and inspectors found weaknesses in oversight.

Children could find themselves segregated on two units, Bridge and Phoenix, or on normal location. The report said the purpose of these units needed clarification. Their regime was too limited, despite caring and supportive staff, and the accommodation on Phoenix was poor.

There were positives. Children were received reasonably well, and safeguarding had improved. Self-harm was lower than at comparable prisons, and children in crisis told inspectors they felt supported.

Daily life, education and release

Relationships between staff and children were not good enough. Barely two-thirds of children felt respected, and staff rarely had time to engage with them meaningfully. Relationships were better on the Cedar unit.

The accommodation was modern, but its upkeep was poor and the environment was often grubby. Most children had to eat meals in their cells. The promotion of equality was poor, although health provision remained good.

Inspectors found 28% of children locked in cell during the school day. Most had just five hours a day out of cell during the week and two hours at weekends. Access to the gym and library was restricted.

Punctuality and attendance at education and training were poor, and only half of those on courses completed them. Ofsted judged learning and skills provision as “requires improvement”, its second lowest assessment.

Resettlement work lacked focus and coordination. Only half of children thought they had a custody plan, and many completed plans failed to consider risk of harm. In the survey, just a quarter of children thought someone was helping them prepare for release. The report called the lack of suitable accommodation for children leaving custody very concerning.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons acknowledged many hard-working staff and managers, and some improvements. He called for higher standards of living conditions and behaviour, a more active regime and better coordinated resettlement services.

Since this report

Inspectors have reported on Cookham Wood several times since. These include full inspections published in November 2021 and July 2023, independent reviews of progress in June 2022 and May 2024, and an Urgent Notification in April 2023. Cookham Wood stopped holding children in 2024 and now holds adult men.