Report finds girl pinned down and forcibly stripped by male prison guards at HMYOI Wetherby
A report has found a girl held in a young offenders' institution in Wetherby was pinned down and forcibly stripped by a group of male prison guards
Last updated 5th Mar 2024
A girl held in a young offenders' institution was pinned down and forcibly stripped by a group of male prison guards, according to a watchdog.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said he was "deeply shocked" at the findings, which revealed the "incredibly vulnerable" child prisoner had been restrained and had her clothes removed by "multiple men" on two occasions at YOI Wetherby in West Yorkshire.
Holding some of the most "challenging" children in the country, the watchdog likened the "complex group" of youngsters behind bars there to the equivalent of being as dangerous as men in category A adult jails.
Nearly half of the children at Wetherby have previously been in council care and the site has the "highest rate of self-harm of any prison in the country", with officers often having to intervene "multiple times at night" to stop girls trying to harm themselves, inspectors said.
Mr Taylor said: "We were deeply shocked to find adult male officers restraining and stripping an incredibly vulnerable girl not once but twice.
"While they no doubt acted to prevent serious harm, the presence of multiple men pinning her down and removing her clothes will have caused further trauma and, given how predictable the behaviour of this particular girl was, the YOI has no excuse not to have made sure that female officers were in attendance."
During the inspection, carried out in November and December last year, wider concerns about how often child inmates were being strip-searched while being restrained and the use of force against them were also raised.
Some 24 children were strip-searched in the last 12 months, with 12 of those taking place while they were being restrained.
Although prison bosses had recorded the decision to carry out a strip-search, "none had recorded the authority to use restraint", according to the findings.
Techniques that deliberately cause pain in a bid to restrain a child had been used nine times in the last 12 months but were deemed "inappropriate" on each occasion by an independent review panel.
Mr Taylor said it was a credit to the prison's governor that "most relationships between staff and children were relatively positive compared with other YOIs", but added: "It was scarcely credible in a jail holding just 165 children with 24 senior managers and 67 other managers that leaders told us they could not give children frequent, structured contact with staff because of a shortage of officers."
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Custody should always be the last resort for children who commit crime and there has been an almost 70% decrease in the number of girls in youth custody since 2015, averaging just 12 girls in custody last year.
“This small number of girls have exceptionally complex needs and require specialised support, which is why HMYOI Wetherby is providing additional training to staff on self-harm and increasing opportunities for meaningful activity, education and personal development.
“Restraint is only used on children in rare circumstances when there is no alternative to prevent serious harm to the child, other children or staff.”