It comes after a report by Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, which revealed that Feltham A in Hounslow, London, had six times the amount of violence than one of the most dangerous adult prisons in England and Wales.
At Feltham A, which houses boys between the ages of 15 and 18, there were 410 violent occurrences over the course of a 12-month period from 84 youngsters, or 488 incidents per 100 children.
In contrast, HMP Bedford’s most recent inspection revealed that the institution’s violent crime rate was 80.6 incidences per 100 inmates.
When inspectors visited Feltham A in March, they discovered a high degree of violence and an increase in self-harm, with disturbance occurrences having “tripled” since the last inspection.
The study describes how the prison’s education block was closed for several weeks due to a “dramatic increase” in assaults and violent incidents that occurred last summer.
The results showed that boys were placed in classrooms based on which other prisoners they would not fight with, rather than attending classes with kids who shared their interests and skills.
Concerns regarding the “worryingly prolonged” segregation of some of the juvenile inmates were also highlighted in the report, with seven boys having been separated for more than 50 days, and two of them for it.
