An “incredibly vulnerable” girl held in a young offender institution was pinned down and stripped by an all-male group of officers on at least two occasions, a watchdog has discovered.
Charities have called for all female offenders to be removed from YOI Wetherby in West Yorkshire after the damning disclosure by the chief inspector of prisons.
Officers restrained the girl as she attempted to self-harm but did not ensure that a female officer was present, according to a report.
The inspection also found there was a high use of pain-inducing techniques, unauthorised strip-searches and cold cells at Wetherby, which has the highest self-harm rates in England and Wales.
Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector, said: “We were deeply shocked to find adult male officers restraining and stripping an incredibly vulnerable girl not once but twice.
“While they no doubt acted to prevent serious harm, the presence of multiple men pinning her down and removing her clothes will have caused further trauma and, given how predictable the behaviour of this particular girl was, the YOI has no excuse not to have made sure that female officers were in attendance.”
In what will be seen as a direct criticism of the Ministry of Justice, the report said there was a lack of “a coherent plan” in Whitehall for caring for female child offenders, some of whom are now placed in Wetherby after the closure of Rainsbrook secure training centre (STC).
“It [Wetherby] has now become the destination for those who STCs and secure children’s homes will not or cannot accommodate. The result has been pressure on staff who, while doing their best, have not had the training or do not possess the expertise to care for these girls, most of whom require specialist provision,” the report said.
“As a result, we came across two incidents where a girl was using her clothes to make ligatures and had had her clothing removed by male officers. This is simply not acceptable.”
It is understood that the girl was attempting to take her own life using a ligature when the decision to intervene was taken, and had harmed one of the female officers on duty earlier that night.
Wetherby is one of three institutions that together hold the seven girls currently imprisoned in England and Wales. It also held 162 boys between the ages of 15 and 18 during the inspection, carried out in November and December last year.
The report said 24 boys and girls had been strip-searched at the institution in the last 12 months, with 12 of those taking place while they were being restrained. Although officers had recorded the decision to carry out a strip-search, “none had recorded the authority to use restraint”, according to the findings.
Techniques that deliberately cause pain in an attempt to restrain a child had been used nine times in the year and were deemed “inappropriate” on each occasion by an independent review panel.
There had been 892 incidents of self-harm in the past year at Wetherby. “These were the highest self-harm rates for all prisons in the country,” the report said.
A survey of children found that nearly a third (31%) felt cold in their cells in the institution. Broken windows and vents meant some detainees slept in their day clothes, the report said.
Children held away from their peers were spending up to 23 and a half hours a day locked in their cells, the inspectors found.
Andrea Coomber, the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “It is virtually impossible to imagine the damage caused to the girl who, made to live in a prison designed for boys, became so distressed to the point of wanting to harm herself, and was then forcibly stripped by a group of men, not once but twice.
“Prison is no place for a child. Ministers must act swiftly to move the girls out of Wetherby and into more suitable accommodation, such as secure children’s homes.”
Campbell Robb, the chief executive of the social justice charity Nacro, said: “A group of men forcibly stripping a distressed young girl, hurting and locking away children in cold cells is not how any child should be treated in a civilised society.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said it was committed to publishing a children and young people strategy in 2024.
They said: “This small number of girls have exceptionally complex needs and require specialised support, which is why HMYOI Wetherby is providing additional training to staff on self-harm and increasing opportunities for meaningful activity, education and personal development. Restraint is only used on children in rare circumstances when there is no alternative to prevent serious harm to the child, other children or staff.”
In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
