HMYOI Wetherby felt safer but resettlement and Keppel unit declined, inspectors found

Just 3% of children at HMYOI Wetherby said they felt unsafe, down from 27% at the previous inspection. Inspectors reported that sharp improvement in a report published in March 2022.

However, the same report found that ground had been lost in other areas over the previous two years, partly because of the pandemic. Resettlement work had fallen from good to not sufficiently good. The specialist Keppel unit had declined in all four areas inspectors assess.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons visited Wetherby, then the largest young offender institution in the country, between 6 and 17 December 2021. It held around 140 children, including three girls, against an operational capacity of 266.

The grades

Inspectors judge young offender institutions against four healthy establishment tests. At this inspection, Wetherby received the following grades: safety, reasonably good; care, reasonably good; purposeful activity, not sufficiently good; and resettlement, not sufficiently good.

Outcomes at Wetherby had stayed the same in two areas and declined in two since the 2019 inspection. Inspectors took account of the institution’s recovery from COVID-19.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said the scores would disappoint staff after a difficult year. But he said Wetherby had the chance to build on the many positives in the report as the pandemic’s disruption eased.

During a scrutiny visit in January 2021, inspectors had made seven recommendations on key concerns. By this inspection, Wetherby had achieved only one of them.

At the time of the inspection it felt more like another wing of the main prison rather than provision for a vulnerable group of children with a range of complex needs.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

Safety and behaviour

Violence remained lower than at comparable prisons. In the survey, 8% of children on the Keppel unit said they felt unsafe. Use of force at Wetherby had fallen since the last inspection and was lower than at similar establishments. Managers reviewed every incident within 24 hours.

However, inspectors saw some uses of pain-inducing techniques on children that were not justified or necessary. The Chief Inspector of Prisons called this very disappointing.

Leaders had tried to shift behaviour management towards rewarding good behaviour rather than punishing bad. But staff on the wings had not yet absorbed the governor’s expectations. Children did not always receive rewards they had earned, and staff still relied too much on punishment. Adjudications, the formal disciplinary hearings, remained high.

Rates of self-harm had risen, although children in crisis received good care. Separation had increased, and children stayed separated for longer than at similar establishments. The rate of positive random drug tests was high, and nobody had acted to find the cause.

The Keppel unit and resettlement

The Keppel unit was a 48-bed unit within Wetherby for children with complex needs, designed as a therapeutic service. Inspectors found a disappointing fall in standards. The Chief Inspector of Prisons said it felt “more like another wing of the main prison” than a specialist service for vulnerable children.

He said the unit needed real grip from leaders. Its aims had to be re-established, and suitable staff selected and trained.

In resettlement, which covers preparing children for release, the team had become dysfunctional and disaffected. Public protection arrangements for children who posed high levels of risk to the public also needed urgent attention.

The Youth Custody Service had decided to develop extra capacity for girls at Wetherby. This followed the closure of places elsewhere and the refusal of some secure children’s homes to take girls with more complex needs. The institution had embraced this challenge. Staff on the Napier unit, where the girls lived, had created a caring and supportive environment.

Time out of cell and leadership

Purposeful activity, which covers education, work and time out of cell, was not sufficiently good. The governor and his team had opened up the regime after COVID-19 restrictions faster than inspectors had seen elsewhere. Even so, children spent an average of only six hours a day unlocked on weekdays, and fewer than five at weekends.

Accommodation remained prison-like, and some exercise yards resembled those in a high security prison. The Chief Inspector of Prisons said Wetherby would need considerable capital investment to create a suitable environment for children. Some cells now had showers.

He also questioned the size of the leadership team. A team of 27 seemed far more than the institution needed for around 140 children. A flatter structure, he said, would improve accountability.

Inspectors have reported on Wetherby again since. These include independent reviews of progress in September 2022 and December 2024, and full inspections in March 2024 and February 2026.