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Young Offender Institution (YOI)

Legal terms A-Z

A type of secure accommodation that children may be placed in if they are in custody. Young offender institutions are for boys aged 15 – 17 and young adult men aged 18 – 21.

There are five young offender institutions (YOIs) in England & Wales:

  • Cookham Wood
  • Feltham
  • Parc
  • Werrington
  • Wetherby

The Youth Custody Placement Service team decides where children who are remanded or sentenced to custody are placed. Boys aged 15 and over are usually sent to a young offender institution (YOI). Under 18s are held in separate units from 18 - 21 year olds. YOIs are governed by Young Offender Institution Rules. A child, their parent or guardian, their legal representative or the youth offending team can challenge a placement decision.1

Subscribe to Young Offender Institution (YOI)
  • 1. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, GOV.UK. Guidance: Placing young people in custody: guide for youth justice practitioners. Published 2014, updated 2020.
  • 2. s29 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE)
  • 3. Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) Code C (revised): Code of Practice for the detention, treatment and questioning of persons by police officers, Home Office, published 20 August 2019, last updated 4 November 2020, https://bit.ly/3HMoTJH
  • 4. Concordat on children in custody: preventing the detention of children in police stations following charge, Home Office, published October 2017, last updated 16 January 2020, https://bit.ly/3l0GiEC, p3
  • 5. Research by Just for Kids Law found that 1,209 children were detained overnight (4 hours or more between midnight and 8am) post-charge by the Metropolitan Police Service in 2019
  • 6. s37(3) PACE as amended by s54(6) Policing and Crime Act 2017
  • 7. s40(3) PACE
  • 8. ss41–44 PACE
  • 9. National Police Chiefs’ Council, April 2015, https://bit.ly/31ZV2Kg
  • 10. National strategy for the policing of children and young people, p8, https://bit.ly/31ZV2Kg
  • 11. College of Policing, Authorised Professional Practice (APP), ‘Detention and custody / Detainee care / Children and young persons’, Section 2 ‘Arrest and detention of children and young persons’, https://bit.ly/3cKHmb2
  • 12. s38(1)(a)(i) PACE
  • 13. s38(1)(a)(ii) PACE
  • 14. s38(1)(a)(vi) PACE
  • 15. s38(1)(a)(iv) PACE
  • 16. s38(1)(a)(v) PACE
  • 17. s38(1)(b)(ii) PACE
  • 18. s38(3) PACE
  • 19.a. b. Concordat on children in custody p12
  • 20. s38(6A) PACE
  • 21. s38(6)(a) and (7) PACE
  • 22. (M) v Gateshead Council [2006] EWCA Civ 221, para 41
  • 23. R (M) v Gateshead Council [2006] EWCA Civ 221, para 43
  • 24. R (M) v Gateshead Council [2006] EWCA Civ 221, para 23
  • 25. Concordat on children in custody p14
  • 26. s39(4) PACE
  • 27. s46 PACE
  • 28. https://bit.ly/32J7tO7
  • 29. https://bit.ly/3nIjriQ
  • 30. https://bit.ly/3l0GiEC
  • 31. https://bit.ly/31ZV2Kg
  • 32. https://bit.ly/3cKHmb2
  • 33. https://bit.ly/3DNSOi9
  • 34. https://bit.ly/3DFPm9j
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