The deputy governor of Stoke Heath Young Offenders Institution (YOI) has defended its record in response to a highly critical report from prison inspectors.
P.J. Butler confirmed that an action plan had been drawn up to address the issues contained in a report released this week by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Dame Anne Owers.
It claimed Stoke Heath YOI was failing to meet the needs of young adults in its custody and that a high proportion of them felt unsafe at the prison.
An inspection of its young adult section for inmates aged 18 to 21 was done three months ago and Mr Butler stressed that “significant improvements” had been recognised in the report.
He said: “We accepted the Chief Inspector’s view that more needed to be done to improve young adults’ early days in custody, safety and vocational training provision when we were given feedback three months ago.
“We have an action plan formulated by the senior management team and that will now be addressing every single issue raised by the Chief Inspector as a concern.
“What we now have to do is ensure that when the next inspection comes, we’re performing well in the four key areas of safety, respect, purposeful activity and resettlement.”
In her report, Dame Owers described processes at Stoke Heath for receiving and supporting young adults in their early days of custody as “inadequate.”
She also claimed that bad language from inmates “often went unchallenged” and that only 20 per cent of young adults at the prison had access to vocational training.
There was praise for its health care provision and support given to inmates with drug and alcohol problems, along with the prison’s “effective governance of the use of force.”
Mr Butler said: “We have reviewed our management structure and appointed a new Head of Residence who is already making significant improvements to the way our young adults are looked after.
“New staff and management responsibilities have improved the time it takes to allocate young adults to work and we have increased the number of work places available for them by increasing numbers in every activity.
Mr Butler revealed that work done at the prison had been recognised with a Shropshire Council Healthy Eating Silver Award and by the Government through its National Healthy Schools Programme.
He added: “Stoke Heath is a decent establishment where the needs of young adults are met in a safe and appropriate way. We’re always looking to improve further and the Chief Inspector’s comments in this report will help us to deliver that.”
By Winston Brown