No longer a young offender institution: Cookham Wood stopped holding children in 2024 and now holds adult men. The inspection history below relates to its time as a YOI.
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Last inspected–
Source: HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published 18 July 2023; visiting details from GOV.UK · last checked 29 October 2026
Latest inspection
No longer a young offender institution: Cookham Wood stopped holding children in 2024 and now holds adult men. The inspection history below relates to its time as a YOI. An independent review of progress was published in May 2024.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons formally told the Justice Secretary of urgent and significant concerns. The government must respond publicly within 28 days. Read our story
Safety: not sufficiently good · Care: not sufficiently good · Purposeful activity: poor · Resettlement: not sufficiently good Read our story
Safety: not sufficiently good · Care: not sufficiently good · Purposeful activity: not sufficiently good · Resettlement: not sufficiently good Read our story
In April 2023 the Chief Inspector of Prisons invoked the Urgent Notification process at HMYOI Cookham Wood, citing widespread weapon making and the normalised solitary confinement of children.
The inspectorate's report on HMYOI Cookham Wood, published in November 2021, found some boys locked in cell for most of the day and called the failure to address earlier concerns completely unacceptable.
The inspectorate's report on HMYOI Cookham Wood, published in February 2020, found staff shortages, high violence and too much lock-up, with outcomes for children not sufficiently good across the board.
Prison News staff
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