Last inspectedMay 2025Full inspection, unannounced
Source: HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published 28 July 2025; visiting details from GOV.UK · last checked 29 October 2026
Latest inspection
At its last full inspection (May 2025; report published July 2025), inspectors found outcomes for children were poor for purposeful activity; not sufficiently good for safety and care; reasonably good for resettlement. It held 78 children at the time, against an operational capacity of 118. An independent review of progress was published in October 2026.
Inspectors found some children at the Staffordshire young offender institution did not leave their cells for days, while 85% missed their weekly education entitlement.
A report published in November 2023 found HMYOI Werrington volatile, with safeguarding in disarray, 388 keep-apart instructions and most children out of their cells for four hours a day or less.
A report published in May 2022 found HMYOI Werrington had lost its way, with violence higher than anywhere else in England and Wales and 263 keep-apart orders for just 66 children.
A report published in April 2020 found HMYOI Werrington improving, with care rated good and education attendance above 90%, though violence kept safety not sufficiently good.
Prison News staff
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