Feltham inspection report 2022
Summary
Our inspection of Feltham A in 2019 revealed “a dramatic and precipitous collapse in standards”. The prison had become so violent and chaotic that my predecessor decided to invoke the urgent notification (UN) process – the first time it had been used in a children’s prison. At both of our scrutiny visits in July 2020 and February 2021 we saw signs of improvement, but the transformation we found at our most recent inspection was impressive. Much credit must go to the excellent work of the governor, who remained in post after the UN and had created a strong team around her with a renewed sense of purpose and vision. As a result, the prison was safer, happier and more productive, with a more confident staff team able to meet the often complex needs and address the behaviour of what was, at times, a challenging group of children. We saw good functional leadership in a number of areas, including education, resettlement, and safety – where we saw some of the biggest improvements.