The lack of progress at a troubled young offenders institution where violence is rife and “demoralised” prison staff are leaving in their droves has been labelled unacceptable.

Resignations are on the increase at HMP YOI Cookham Wood in Borstal, near Rochester where a “shocking” scale of violence and appalling conditions was uncovered.

An inspection took place in April last year which found problems across the board, including widespread weapon making and staff “reluctant” to search inmates or their dirty cells for fear of recourse.

Conditions were also slammed with around a quarter of the 79 boys there kept completely separated from other offenders, with some being locked away almost 24 hours a day – and two for more than 100 days to “manage conflict” between the inmates.

Now, six months on from the publication of the His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons’ damning report into the facility which placed it into emergency measures, an update has been given.

The update report, which was submitted to Medway Council’s children and young people overview and scrutiny committee on Thursday, January 11, said Cookham Wood had been making slow progress towards improvement by going “back to basics”.

But overall councillors were not confident conditions at the young offenders institution were improving with a 20% rise in the number of staff resigning and the number and length of separations for inmates.

It was also found that staff members were not even getting basics such as wearing the correct uniform right and they did not have confidence in leadership teams.

The number of assaults was reported to have decreased from 30 in March 2023 to 15 in November, but both instances of self-harming and isolation were rising after an initial fall.

In October, there were 13 separations per day and the average time of isolation was four days.

The number and length of separations rose dramatically in November 2022, reaching a high in April 2023 of 20 isolations a day for an average length of eight days.

The opposition spokesperson for children's services and education, Cllr George Perfect (Con), called the lack of progress unacceptable and said there was nothing to suggest things were improving.

He said: “This is appalling. Every single page is just unacceptable. I appreciate the challenges but I don’t really have confidence in the report that all of the concerns are being detailed.

“I don’t have the confidence from the report that things are changing at pace.

“On the education side, inadequate in every single area reviewed by Ofsted and it’s actually been getting worse since 2021 because they haven’t been listening to what Ofsted actually said.”

The inspection in April last year said there was acceptance of low standards in the young offenders institution, including such basics as staff not even wearing the correct uniform.

HMP YOI Cookham Wood were given an Urgent Notification which told them it needed to make urgent and radical changes to make it an acceptable establishment to hold children.

Cassandra Chapman, deputy governor of HMP YOI Cookham Wood, who presented the report and answered questions at the committee meeting said there was a plan in place but due to the foundational nature of the problems improvements would take time.

She said: “There is an urgent notification action plan that we are working towards.

“Unfortunately, some of the things that have happened at Cookham Wood have not happened overnight.

This started from a really low base, it’s not going to turn around overnight

“It’s been happening for a number of years and we’re currently at the stage of trying to unpick those things and get them back to basics before we can truly move forward.

“We are starting to see improvements, it is slow, it is certainly not as fast as we would like it to be, but this is a big culture shift for us.

“Considering the amount of time it’s taken us to get to this position, it will take a significant time to move us in the right direction.”

Dr Lee-Anne Farach, Medway Council’s director of people and deputy chief executive, said the council had oversight on the prison and could see that the right moves were being made to improve the facility.

She said: “I don’t think anyone can underestimate what Cookham Wood is like, however there is a lot of good work going on but it’s going to take time.

“This started from a really low base, it’s not going to turn around overnight.

“Certainly everyone, the youth justice board, the governor, there is a real push, a real desire to improve.”

Tory leader, Cllr Adrian Gulvin, expressed concern that drugs were not mentioned anywhere in the report and said that a resident within his ward, who did not want to be named, had previously told him that drugs were basically allowed because it meant the inmates were easier to deal with.

He said: “It’s not mentioned in the report at all, which is that there’s a huge drug problem.

“The accusation was almost made that staff were allowing the drugs to circulate because that kept the children quieter.

“While they were drugged up to the eyeballs they were easier to control was virtually what was said.”

However the deputy governor said this was not a concern she recognised and was not a major issue within the facility.

But Ms Chapman said: “I would not suggest that drugs are a significant problem at Cookham Wood.

“It may well have been in the past, but currently there are some reports of cannabis use but those are generally the only reports that we get.

“When you look at the rest of the prison estate, they’re very few and far between at Cookham Wood and definitely is not the biggest problem we face.”

She also said that new systems had been put in place to support staff to raise concerns with managers, introducing ways to make officers feel valued.

The report also said that officers were trialling a new way of investigating violence and separations in order to identify root causes and come up with resolutions, however how this worked was not included.

Cllr Paula Hamilton (Lab) asked that the governor be required to attend the scrutiny committee twice annually to give detailed updates and asked for members to be allowed to visit Cookham Wood quarterly to assess progress.

She said: “I would request that members can visit to see on the ground progress, to ensure that young people in custody are safe, receiving an education, and are having an opportunity to leave custody to actually contribute positively to society.”

However, due to the difficulty faced by the committee to get an in-person representative it was agreed that they would request the governor or deputy governor attend once per year.

Ms. Chapman said that the next inspection of HMP YOI Cookham Wood would likely take place in the next couple of months and so a full assessment of the progress made would be shown then.

HMYOI Cookham Wood is a young offender facility in Rochester with a capacity of 90 boys between the ages of 15 and 18. It currently holds 79 young offenders, both on remand and sentenced.