Why I fear for Wetherby young offenders, by prisons chief

Nick Hardwick, reporting on Wetherby young offenders institution, described how one young boy tearfully asked to be taken home to his mother while another, described as “low”, lay on his bed not speaking.

Some of the most challenging of the 340 boys held at the time of the inspection, most of whom were aged 16 and 17, were also the most vulnerable, he added.

“Walking round the establishment, the vulnerability of some of the young people held was obvious,” Mr Hardwick said.

“One boy in the segregation unit with a lifelong medical condition that would have been hard for any teenager to manage, and who had exhibited very disruptive behaviour, asked me tearfully if I could take him home to his mum. I was later told he had been moved to a more appropriate secure medical facility.

“Another boy, who looked about 12 and was sporting a dramatic black eye, had been convicted of a serious offence, had been in further trouble and was confined to his cell.

“A boy in health care, described to me as ‘low’, lay on his bed not speaking. All these boys were receiving good attention and care, but you feared for them all.”

A few days before the inspection at the end of January, two boys had died elsewhere in custody. And in April last year, Ryan Clark, 17 was found hanging in his cell at Wetherby, where he was being held on remand.

“The most striking feature of Wetherby was the wide range of the young people held, the challenge some of them posed and the extreme vulnerability of others,” Mr Hardwick warned. “Some of the most challenging were also the most vulnerable.”

Mr Hardwick admitted that was “not the whole story” and that a group of boisterous and cheerful boys working in one of the serveries was “probably a bit of a handful”. But he added: “Even they were more subdued and troubled when I came across them individually later.”