Boys held in cells for up to 22 hours a day at YOI, watchdog report finds

The IMB’s annual report, covering September 2024 to August 2025 and published on 3 February, raises continuing concerns about excessive time spent in cells at the young offenders’ institution, alongside inadequate education provision and limited opportunities for rehabilitation.

Feltham operates as two separate establishments: Feltham A, which holds boys aged 15 to 18, and Feltham B, a category C prison for adult men. While the watchdog noted some improvements in staff-prisoner relationships, it said entrenched problems continued to undermine outcomes for both children and adults.

The report found that boys in the YOI were sometimes confined to their rooms for almost the entire day, particularly at weekends. Education provision remained insufficient, with children still not receiving the target 15 hours of learning a week set by the Youth Custody Service.

On the adult side of the prison, education and training were described as “unfit for purpose”, leaving many men without meaningful preparation for employment on release. Sentence planning and resettlement support were also severely affected by staff shortages.

Despite these challenges, the IMB observed that relationships between staff and prisoners were generally fair and respectful, and welcomed the introduction of two incentivised substance-free living units for adult prisoners.

IMB chair Maura Parsons said the report reflected a pattern of long-standing concerns.

“Our latest annual report highlights many of the same issues reported in previous years, with no significant improvements having been made,” she said. “Opportunities for rehabilitation for both children and adults are severely hampered when they are locked up for significant periods of time, with limited access to purposeful activity.”

The report comes against a backdrop of major organisational change at Feltham. During the reporting period, the prison was split into two distinct establishments, each with its own governor and senior leadership team — a move the IMB said had been successful in principle. However, it warned that chronic infrastructure problems continued to undermine progress.

Long-promised capital projects, including essential roofing repairs, have yet to be delivered by the Ministry of Justice, leaving parts of the prison, such as the visits hall, almost unusable in heavy rain. The IMB said centrally controlled procurement and delays in infrastructure delivery remained major obstacles to improvement.

Feltham A is the only young offenders’ institution covering a wide area from Cornwall to the Midlands, taking large numbers of boys from Greater London, including some of the most deprived communities in the country. Most children held there have prior experience of local authority care.

Around 55% of the population during the year was on remand, contributing to high turnover and instability. While managers have long viewed a population of around 90 boys as optimal for maintaining a stable regime, numbers have risen to between 100 and 110, which the IMB described as concerning.

A new senior leadership team introduced in January 2025 began implementing the Youth Custody Service’s ‘Road Map to Effective Practice’, with the IMB noting early signs of improvement. However, by the end of the reporting period staff absence had risen again, leading to a return to reduced time out of cells and increased levels of violence.

For social workers working with children in custody or on remand, the findings raise renewed concerns about the impact of prolonged isolation, disrupted education and limited rehabilitative activity on already vulnerable young people — many of whom have experienced trauma, care involvement and social exclusion before entering the youth justice system.

The IMB said sustained staffing, investment in education and improvements to the physical estate would be essential if conditions at Feltham are to improve and children’s welfare properly safeguarded.