His Majesty's Young Offender Institution

His Majesty's Young Offenders Institution (or HM YOI) is a place of detention for young people (aged 15 to 21) in the United Kingdom. These young people will have received a custodial sentence following conviction of a criminal offence. Or they may be being held on remand awaiting trial on criminal charges.

Anyone under the age of 18 held in a young offenders institution will be housed in separate buildings from the 18 to 21-year-olds.

A young offenders institution can accommodate between 60 and 400 young people. The children and young people will be housed in 'wings' of between 30 and 60.

Most young offenders institutions are run by the prison service. However, some are run by private companies on behalf of the prison service.

Background

Young Offender Institutions were introduced under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, but special centres for housing young offenders have existed since the beginning of the 20th century: the first borstal opened at Borstal, Kent in 1902.[1]

The regime of a Young Offender Institution is much the same as that of an adult prison. However, there are some slight differences, notably the lower staff-to-offender ratio. Prisoners serving sentences at Young Offender Institutions are expected to take part in at least 25 hours of education per week, aimed at helping them to improve their behaviour, to develop practical skills for use in the outside world and to prepare them for lawful employment following their release. There are also opportunities for prisoners to undertake work in Community Service Volunteer programmes.[2]

Violence can occur often in Young Offender Institutions. Some believe that staff do not always do enough to prevent violence. Inmates are often locked in cells for up to 21 hours a day and given little tuition or guidance.[3] Three quarters of offenders released from Young Offender Institutions re-offend within a year. The use of isolation for young offenders is increasing though this is considered bad for their mental health. At all YOIs during six-month there were 306 cases of segregation lasting over a week, which is "very high". Gang involvement, levels of prison staff and lack of NHS mental health beds may cause the rise in segregation.[4]

Offenders undergo risk assessments to assess the likeliness of reoffending. This assessment is known as Youth level of service.

List of Young Offender Institutions

See also

References
  1. "Young Offender Institutions". Politics.co.uk. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
  2. "Ashfield Young Offender Institution". insidetime.org. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  3. Phillips, Noel (12 September 2016). "The terror of young offender institutions". BBC News.
  4. Grierson, Jamie (10 October 2018). "Segregation of young offenders rising in institutions, says report". The Guardian. London.
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