What is a Young Offender Institution?
Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) are prisons for 15-21 year olds. They are run by the Prison Service as part of the prison estate as a whole. YOIs are distinct from Secure Training Centres and Local Authority Secure Children’s Homes, which focus on different types of youth offenders and therefore have different staffing and accommodation specifications. The core distinction is that Young Offender Institutions have a lower staff to offender ratio, reflecting the focus of these institutions on incarceration as opposed to rehabilitation and care. YOIs are also generally larger. Perhaps the best-known YOI in England is Feltham in west London. Young offender wings also exist within adult prisons. Background Young Offender Institutions were introduced under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, but special centres for young offenders have existed since the 19th century. The idea originated with the Gladstone Committee in 1895 as an attempt to reform young offenders. The first institution was open
