AYJ Comment: Reports from Oakhill and Werrington show custody is unsafe for children
On 31 July, Ofsted, HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP), and the Care Quality Commission (CQC), invoked the Urgent Notification process for Oakhill Secure Training Centre, following a full inspection that uncovered “profoundly serious and systemic failures” placing children at continued risk of harm.
In a letter to Secretary of State for Justice, Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP, Martyn Oliver, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, details a collapse in safeguarding systems, widespread staff misconduct, and a culture of fear and reprisal. Thirty staff have been suspended in under nine months, including the Director and two deputy directors, with the majority of suspensions related to allegations about staff conduct with children.
The letter goes on to highlight that Oakhill looks after vulnerable children needing more support than can be provided by a young offender’s institution. Yet the inspection found that some children have experienced “unintentional pain” during restraint, with staff having not been trained on the newer manual. Others have been separated for extended periods, with an inappropriate rationale contrary to STC rules. Children with known mental health concerns are also not always receiving timely care. Additionally, they highlight that monitors from the Youth Custody Service have failed to identify and/or take sufficient action to help safeguard children and to ensure that children receive good quality care.
Inspectors found no capacity for improvement following on from poor inspection reports over many years. In fact, Oakhill has not been judged higher than ‘requires improvement to be good’ since 2017 and was judged ‘inadequate’ at its last full inspection in October 2024. It was also the subject of a previous urgent notification in 2021.
In addition, this week saw publication of another deeply concerning report into HMYOI Werrington. There, children reported feeling unsafe, education was described as “in disarray,” and inspectors found children locked in cells for more than 22 hours a day. Serious concerns were also raised about staff shortages, poor healthcare, and disproportionate use of separation affecting Black children.
Viewed together, these reports reinforce what we already know: the current youth custodial estate is not fit for purpose. Year after year, inspection after inspection, the same systemic failures persist, harming the most vulnerable children in the system. These latest findings echo longstanding concerns from professionals, voluntary sector organisations and children themselves: that secure settings too often compound trauma rather than provide the support that children need to fulfil their potential.
Jess Mullen, Chief Executive of the Alliance for Youth Justice, said:
“These two reports from Oakhill and Werrington paint a devastating picture of institutional failure. That children have been left in settings where abuse, neglect and mistreatment are allowed to continue is indefensible. Oakhill, currently the only operational Secure Training Centre, was intended to offer a more welfare-based approach, but it is now the subject of the most serious warning available to inspectors. The youth justice system has reached a breaking point. We cannot continue down this path. We have been calling for the closure of YOIs and STCs for many years and government must now listen and act. Children must never be placed in custody unless absolutely necessary, and when they are, they should be cared for in small, local, Child First environments with high staff-to-child ratios. We urge the government to recognise this failure and commit to closing YOIs and STCs, replacing them with a model rooted in care, wellbeing and safety."