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
- 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