Prison Cat YOI Key Concerns Identified Positive Findings

Wetherby

IMB Annual Report 2025 · Published 21 January 2026

HMYOI Wetherby saw a significant reduction in its young person population to 119 by August 2025. The Board welcomed the YCS Roadmap and initial positive changes towards a child-centred environment. However, key concerns persist regarding escalating violence, the inadequate regime and conditions on the Benbow separation unit, and severe constraints on mental health service delivery due to unsuitable facilities. Staffing challenges, including vetting delays and loss of experienced officers, also impact the establishment's ability to provide consistent care.

Population

119

Operational Capacity

288

Deaths in Custody

Self-harm Incidents

699

ACCT Cases Opened

183

Assaults on Staff

Use of Force

963

prev: 1,143

Drug Finds

Positive Findings

The Board welcomes the YCS Roadmap initiative aimed at creating a child-centred, trauma-informed environment, noting positive signs of reform. Work by staff to support violence reduction, including creating a new officer role, is commended, as is the successful management of serious incidents. The physical healthcare team received praise for their prompt and skilled response to injuries. There has been significant investment in buildings, leading to improved cleanliness and appearance across the estate, partly due to the valuable work of the Q-Branch. The acquisition of an X-ray machine and the creation of a clothing bank were also positive developments.

Key Concerns

Safety

Much work is being undertaken by staff at Wetherby to support violence reduction, which the Board welcomes, including the creation, in April 2025, of the violence reduction officer role. Many young people in Wetherby are remanded or sentenced for violent offences: violent assaults continue to be a cause for concern. Young people say that they carry improvised weapons because they feel unsafe, so it becomes a vicious circle.

Safety

There were 27 in-cell fires recorded during the reporting year. Cell fires are not an uncommon occurrence at Wetherby, and there are a few young people who are known arsonists.

Estate/Conditions

There continue to be areas of the establishment that remain in a poor condition or in need of repair. However, the recent considerable investment in the buildings has undoubtedly improved the whole environment.

Regime/Time Out of Cell Repeated

It is the view of the Board that the separation wing, Benbow, has not been fit for purpose for years. The regime...is frequently minimal, with many young people spending up to 23 hours in their room. The size of the rooms only just reaches the basic standard.

Mental Health Repeated

Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) informs us that they continue to experience difficulty in delivering interventions, due to the lack of suitable rooms in which to see the young people on the wings.

Regime/Time Out of Cell

The Board remains concerned about the lack of TOoR for young people who choose to self-isolate or who are placed in the care and separation unit, although this is usually for less than two hours.

Education/Purposeful Activity

Challenges in recruiting and retaining teaching staff, combined with a curriculum that did not seem to fully meet the needs or interests of young people and which led to disengagement, resulted in an educational provision that required significant improvement.

Overcrowding

At the end of the reporting year, 42 young people were held on remand in Wetherby. What urgent measures is the Minister implementing to reduce these delays and ensure timely access to justice?

Resettlement/Release Repeated

The Board remains concerned about the lack of suitable pathways available for the increasing number of young people who have very lengthy sentences.

Resettlement/Release Repeated

Local authorities are slow to meet their obligations with respect to these young people. What specific steps will the local authority take to guarantee that accommodation is secured and assigned well before release?

Safety Repeated

Despite many valuable improvements to the conditions of care at Wetherby, violent incidents among young people remain a problem, with the severity of attacks and injuries escalating.

Segregation Repeated

What specific steps will you take to further reduce the use of separation and self-isolation, while significantly increasing meaningful TOoR?

Mental Health Repeated

Unacceptable delays continue in securing an appropriate external mental health bed for those few young people who, clearly, are too mentally unwell to be in Wetherby.

Resettlement/Release

Immigration agents often do not communicate clearly with staff at Wetherby.

Staffing

Delays in staff vetting are currently the main reason for the high number of vacancies.

Staffing

During the reporting year, almost 19% of the band 3-5 officers retired, resulting in a huge loss of experience.

Other

There continues to be a lack of clarity amongst some staff and young people alike. Young people tell us that they are uncertain as to who their CuSP officer is and many are unclear about the purpose of CuSP.

Complaints/Property

Many young people remain uncertain about who their wing representative is or how they can contribute to meetings.

Equality/Diversity

Some young people believe that racial abuse towards white young people from other young people and staff frequently goes unchallenged.

Other

We were, therefore, surprised this year to receive applications and verbal requests from young people to say that they have not had a response to queries or applications they have submitted to chaplaincy.

Food/Catering

Young people on Benbow frequently tell members of the Board that they think the portions of food are smaller on the unit.

Complaints/Property

Some young people tell the IMB that they have no confidence in the [complaints] system.

Other

The establishment received 189 complaints regarding property, often due to items missing or delays in receipt.

Mental Health

CAMHS tells us that their service delivery is severely constrained by the lack of dedicated, private spaces and an outdated physical infrastructure that is not designed for therapeutic work.

Mental Health

Operational challenges, including low numbers of staff, restricted access to movement officers, regime constraints and education-hour restrictions, further limit flexibility and responsiveness, making assessments for ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) difficult to complete.

Mental Health

The absence of set review times and variable communication continue to disrupt CAMHS’ scheduling and service delivery.

Resettlement/Release Repeated

The Board continues to be concerned about the lack of suitable accommodation for a ‘looked-after child’ to be released. It can be as little as a day or two prior to release that the accommodation is finally secured.

Resettlement/Release Repeated

Receiving financial support in a timely manner or, indeed, sometimes not at all, continues to be a problem for some looked-after children. The social work team reports that the situation is getting worse as local authorities struggle financially.

Board Commentary

Staffing

Delays in staff vetting are the primary cause of high vacancies, with five OSG posts currently open. While administrative posts are filled, the number of available roles has decreased due to financial constraints. The Board observed an increase in officers from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Sickness averaged 18 calendar days for band 3 and 4 officers, with 32 assaults on officers resulting in sick leave. Although nearly 19% of experienced officers retired, retention is generally positive. However, consistency in personal officer support (CuSP) is lacking, leading to frustration among young people.

Healthcare

Overall healthcare provision is generally good, with a 24-hour service available. The physical healthcare team is commended for its professionalism in responding to serious incidents. However, CAMHS delivery is severely hampered by a lack of dedicated, private, and suitable rooms for therapeutic work, leading to inconsistent appointments and compromised privacy. The current physical infrastructure is not designed for mental health interventions. While CAMHS attendance at ACCT and GOoD reviews continues, their input is no longer formally recorded, which is a concern for the Board.

Regime & Daily Life

The regime on the separation unit, Benbow, is frequently minimal, with young people often spending up to 23 hours in their rooms, which the Board considers inhumane due to the lack of purposeful activity. Time out of room (TOoR) has increased slowly on main wings but remains unacceptably poor at weekends and for those in self-isolation or segregation. When Benbow exceeds 12 young people, staff find it difficult to deliver a full regime, often resulting in no activities for anyone. The lack of a suitable regime on Benbow is a particular concern for young people awaiting transfer or release.

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
Accommodation (including transfers)	45	38
Complaints system (including timeliness)	21	10
Discrimination (DIRFs)	12	8
Family communication	5	7
Food	18	20
Healthcare	4	5
Legal	14	12
Property	21	10
Regime/TOoR	5	97
Staff behaviour (inc. assaults on YP)	14	11
Total	160	208
Transfers	1	0

Recommendations (10)

Ministry of Justice: 3 Other: 3 HMPPS: 1 Governor / Director: 3 4 repeated

Recommendation 1 Prev. addressed

At the end of the reporting year, 42 young people were held on remand in Wetherby. What urgent measures is the Minister implementing to reduce these delays and ensure timely access to justice?

Ministry of Justice Resettlement

Response

The Board thanked the previous Minister for Youth Justice for his full and detailed reply to their annual report.

Recommendation 2 Prev. addressed

What decisive actions will the Minister take to strengthen coordination and accountability between YOIs and partner agencies, such as immigration services, the adult estate and local authorities, to ensure a seamless and safe handover?

Ministry of Justice Resettlement

Response

The Board thanked the previous Minister for Youth Justice for his full and detailed reply to their annual report.

Recommendation 3 Repeated Prev. addressed

The Board remains concerned about the lack of suitable pathways available for the increasing number of young people who have very lengthy sentences. What concrete progress has the Government made and what commitments are in place to develop and implement these pathways?

Ministry of Justice Resettlement

Response

The Board thanked the previous Minister for Youth Justice for his full and detailed reply to their annual report.

Recommendation 4 Repeated Prev. unaddressed

What specific steps will the local authority take to guarantee that accommodation is secured and assigned well before release?

Other (other) Resettlement

Response