Watchdog slams prison closure

THE prison service watchdog has slammed the closure of a unit for teenage offenders at Warrington which has been hailed as “a beacon of good practice.”
Anne Owers, chief inspector of prisons, says the axing of the under-18s unit at Thorn Cross Young Offenders’ Institution at Appleton was a “retrograde” step.
The unit, the only remaining open juvenile unit for boys, has been praised in the past for innovative work in tackling offending and reintegrating young criminals into society.
Ms Owers said to close the unit before there were any concrete plans for alternative open units, purely for financial reasons, was both disappointing and retrograde.
She said the unit had not only passed key tests set by the inspectorate but had improved further.
Fewer teenagers held at Thorn Cross felt unsafe compared with other establishments and it had a good anti-bullying strategy. There were also opportunities for training and education and the strategies to re-introduce youngsters into the community were well-run and not available elsewhere.
She added: “This inspection showed that the Thorn Cross juvenile unit was a beacon of good practice in working with a small number of young people and preparing them for the transition to life outside prison.
“This is a model that should be built on, not abandoned.”
Six years ago, a study of a separate specialist unit at Thorn Cross concluded that every £1 spent on intensive management of young offenders saved society a further £5 because fewer crimes were being committed on release. But a spokesman for the Youth Justice Board, which is responsible for placing young offenders at the centre, said the decision to withdraw funding from the unit was taken for financial and policy reasons. Only a third of places in the unit had been occupied by under-18s in recent years and it was considered the unit was not viable.
She said the Youth Justice Board remained “committed” to open conditions and was considering a number of pilots across the country.
Phil Wheatley, head of the National Offender Management Service, said the unit’s role had now changed to focus on offenders in the 21-25 age group.
This meant the excellent services provided by the unit were preparing more young people to lead law-abiding lives when they left prison.