Youth suffer most from prison system that is full to bursting

The UK’s lead inspector for children’s prisons says a young offenders’ institution inspected earlier this month is “not safe enough” for the boys incarcerated there. This matters anyway, but especially now since the inspection – and a report due in June – follow the government’s announcement of the closure of another children’s prison, Cookham Wood, meaning the Youth Custody Service must now urgently find places for around 80 vulnerable and volatile teenage boys. One possible alternative was Feltham Young Offenders Institution, but Angus Jones, the inspector, told Tortoise: “We were in Feltham last week and it’s gone backwards.”