INSPECTORS have found a young offenders’ prison “thrown into chaos” by understaffing and changes in its role.

HMP Aylesbury was a young offenders institution catering for young men aged 18-21 convicted of violent crimes and serving long sentences. 

But with rising numbers of prisoners needing accommodation elsewhere in the estate it had been reclassified as a Category C training establishment, catering for a much bigger age range.

Inspectors noted the reclassification had come “suddenly and without sufficient consultation, notice or support” and in a prison which was already struggling.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said the prison “needs significant and immediate support” from the prison service to mitigate the level of risk it presents to prisoners and the community.

He warned that “high risk offenders are being released” into the community with “little to no work to reduce their risk of reoffending.”

Andrew Neilson, Howard League for Penal Reform campaigns director, said: “An understaffed prison which has failed repeatedly to help young adults move on from crime has now been placed under even greater pressure because the government is resorting to panic measures to respond to rising numbers. 

“The result has been disastrous, with little or no support to prepare people for safe release.”

Prison Reform Trust director Peter Dawson said: “A prison changing role should not be the cause of the breakdown in standards that the chief inspector describes at Aylesbury, but done in a rush and in the context of chronic staffing shortages, it has resulted in two out of every five prisoners having nothing to do.

“It’s an utterly predictable and self-inflicted crisis, for which the blame lies squarely at the door of ministers.”

The Ministry of Justice has been approached for comment.