YOUNG OFFENDERS are attacking prison guards with knives and “jumping on their heads” — and inspectors blamed staff shortages yesterday in a savage indictment of government policy.

Assaults on staff at Cookham Wood Young Offenders’ Institution in Kent doubled in the six months to March this year with almost a hundred fights breaking out among inmates.

During an unannounced visit to the Kent jail, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons found boys hauling a cell-mate before a “kangaroo court,” unchallenged by guards.

Chief prisons inspector Nick Hardwick said the behaviour at Cookham reflected “systemic problems” with Britain’s young offenders system.

“The welcome fall in the number of children in custody means that those who remain represent a more concentrated mix of very challenging young people, held in a smaller number of establishments that are increasingly unsuitable to meet their needs, and cared for by a staff group beset by shortages and a lack of training for their complex and demanding role,” he blasted.

Behaviour management is branded “weak” in a new HMIP report and prisoners had “much too little time out of their cells.”

The report calls for more training and work opportunities and suggests prisoners get at least 10 hours of non-cell time.

The prison, which holds 166 boys aged 15-18, has faced a staff shortage with a quarter of employees unfamiliar with “the work, the institution or the boys.”

A report last October revealed 35 weapons had been found in a lockdown, and 169 acts of violence were recorded during the six months before the inspection.

Prison Officers Association (POA) chairman Peter McParlin said: “If the National Offender Management Services and the government won’t protect prison staff and prisoners in our care, then the POA will.

“We’ve engaged with the employer on the violence reduction initiatives and there’s been a lot of good work. But the headline figures aren’t getting any better — they’re getting worse.”

Labour’s shadow justice minister Jenny Chapman said it was “time that ministers woke up to the crisis” in British prisons.

“Staff shortages, high levels of violence and boys spending too much time locked up in cells means many young offenders institutions are not suited to rehabilitating offenders and protecting the public from reoffending,” she said.