Prison
Cat YOI
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Cookham Wood
IMB Annual Report 2023 · Published 15 February 2024
HMYOI Cookham Wood faced significant challenges, including an inhumane regime with consistently low time out of cell, severe staffing shortages, and poor education provision, leading to an 'Urgent Notification' by HMIP. Despite these issues, the healthcare services were commended, and the resettlement team achieved national recognition for their work. Key concerns persist regarding the length of time boys spend on remand, the regime for older young adults, and the impact of staff attrition on overall conditions.
Positive Findings
The IMB strongly agreed with the CQC findings that Cookham Wood's health services were well led, resourced, and caring. Officers were observed putting themselves in harm’s way to protect boys, with many examples of skilled de-escalation. The Substance Misuse team’s preventative work was considered exemplary, focusing on education and counselling. The Resettlement Team received national recognition for ground-breaking initiatives, including increasing ROTL opportunities and improving liaison with adult prisons. Board members found quarterly family days heart-warming and Cookham Wood excellent at arranging private compassionate visits.
Key Concerns
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
Throughout this year, as last year, the IMB was seriously concerned about the small amounts of time out of cell that boys were offered daily. These were consistently and significantly below acceptable levels – indeed, inhumane, in the IMB’s view.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
The IMB judges the length of time that boys have been held on remand to be totally unfair, and in many cases inhumane (over a year held on remand is not uncommon).
Regime/Time Out of Cell
There has been a marked increase in the number of 18-year-olds held at Cookham Wood for up to a year (potentially until their 19th birthday) to ease pressure on the adult estate. Cookham Wood does not have a separate programme and regime for adults – and thus their regime is inadequate.
Resettlement/Release
Securing accommodation for boys unable to return to their parents on release remains a challenge. It is very important to the boys that their accommodation is arranged and confirmed in a timely way (at the very least, two weeks prior to their release).
Staffing
Repeated
The attrition rate for officers at Cookham Wood has been very high.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Education delivery at Cookham Wood has been very poor.
Estate/Conditions
Progress on the landing refurbishment has been slow, with only two landings refurbished and one chained shut for months, awaiting Government Facility Services Ltd (GFSL) to start the work. The Board is particularly concerned about the length of time eight cells on the Cedar resettlement unit have been out of action, pending major repairs.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
What urgent steps will Cookham Wood take to ensure a stable and predictable regime for the boys, with improved time out of cell and minimal last-minute changes and cancellations?
Safety
What steps will be taken to manage and reduce the separation of boys, and to monitor, review and reduce Keep Apart restrictions?
Staffing
Will there be more opportunities for officers to develop their relationships with the boys and to strengthen landing communities? Will personal officer support for the boys be increased and monitored?
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Will emotional self-management and problem-solving courses for individuals and groups of boys (e.g. “A-Z”; “Feeling It”; and “JETS” intervention programmes) be re-introduced as part of sentence and remand plans?
Board Commentary
Staffing
Prison officer numbers often appeared inadequate, facing a 30% shortfall and rapid staff turnover, with 20% of officers resigning during the reporting year. This led to officers feeling 'constantly on the back foot' due to competing demands, reducing personal contact with boys needed to build healthy relationships. Staffing shortages were cited as the key reason for the dreadful regime, described as a 'national crisis'.
Healthcare
Health services were found to be 'well led and well resourced' by CQC and IMB, with physical and mental healthcare integrated under a single NHS Foundation Trust provider. Primary Care nurses were highly visible and accessible. However, the mental health team was repeatedly frustrated by limitations on accessing boys for one-to-one therapeutic sessions, often due to delays or cancellations, which the IMB deemed unacceptable and detrimental to trust and progress.
Regime & Daily Life
The regime was consistently and significantly below acceptable levels, often described as 'inhumane', with boys experiencing small amounts of time out of cell daily. Inconsistency, last-minute changes, and cancellations created a volatile environment and impacted boys' mental health. While weekday time out of cell averaged 5-6 hours, evening and weekend regimes were extremely poor, with some boys experiencing solitary confinement. Keep Apart restrictions and staff shortages greatly complicated regime management.
Applications to the IMB
Prisoners can apply to their IMB about any aspect of their treatment. This table shows application counts by category.
| Category | Current | Previous | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation (including transfers) | 45 | 38 | |
| Activities and work | 17 | 12 | |
| Bullying/Harassment | 10 | 12 | |
| Discrimination | 0 | 0 | |
| Education | 11 | 10 | |
| Family Contact | 10 | 10 | — |
| Food | 5 | 3 | |
| Healthcare (incl. mental health) | 20 | 18 | |
| Immigration | 0 | 0 | |
| IPP | 0 | 0 | |
| Legal (including parole) | 4 | 6 | |
| Money/Earning/Debts | 1 | 2 | |
| Other | 15 | 18 | |
| Personal officer | 8 | 7 | |
| Property | 15 | 12 | |
| Punishments and adjudications | 12 | 15 | |
| Release | 18 | 20 | |
| Safety (inc. self-harm) | 5 | 4 | |
| Staff behaviour/treatment by staff | 23 | 25 | |
| Welfare | 10 | 8 |
Recommendations (13)
Ministry of Justice: 3
Other: 1
HMPPS: 4
Governor / Director: 5
5 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
When will urgent action take place to enable boys in Cookham Wood to receive a humane regime?
Ministry of Justice
Regime
Recommendation 2
Repeated
When will urgent action take place to reduce court backlogs and thus the length of time children spend on remand before sentencing?
Ministry of Justice
Regime
Recommendation 3
When will this group be offered an appropriate regime?
Ministry of Justice
Regime
Recommendation 4
When will local authorities improve their communications regarding accommodation to the boys in Cookham Wood?
Other
(other)
Resettlement
Recommendation 5
What urgent plans does the YCS have to recruit, train and retain more youth estate officers? What outside support will be provided (e.g. detached duty officers) if Cookham’s officer numbers become dangerously low?
HMPPS
Staffing
Recommendation 6
Repeated
When will the YCS be able to ensure that boys held in Cookham Wood are offered a humane regime?
HMPPS
Regime
Recommendation 7
When will the education provision at Cookham Wood be improved – both in the quantity of teachers available and the number and range of subjects provided (including vocational subjects) – to make sure it delivers an appropriate and consistent range of learning opportunities, differentiated to meet boys’ individual needs?
HMPPS
Education
Recommendation 8
What will the YCS do - and when - to get this much-needed and vital refurbishment back on track?
HMPPS
Estate
Recommendation 9
Repeated
What urgent steps will Cookham Wood take to ensure a stable and predictable regime for the boys, with improved time out of cell and minimal last-minute changes and cancellations?
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 10
What steps will be taken to manage and reduce the separation of boys, and to monitor, review and reduce Keep Apart restrictions?
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 11
Will there be more opportunities for officers to develop their relationships with the boys and to strengthen landing communities? Will personal officer support for the boys be increased and monitored?
Governor / Director
Staffing
Recommendation 12
Will emotional self-management and problem-solving courses for individuals and groups of boys (e.g. “A-Z”; “Feeling It”; and “JETS” intervention programmes) be re-introduced as part of sentence and remand plans?
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 13
Repeated
When will boys held in Cookham Wood be routinely offered a humane regime?
Governor / Director
Regime
Other IMB Reports for Cookham Wood
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.
Prevention of Future Deaths Reports
Coroner PFD reports issued to this establishment.