PRISON reformers today welcomed a review into the placement of girls following public outcry over a girl being forcibly strip-searched by male staff at a boys’ prison.

The Ministry of Justice announced that it had commissioned Susannah Hancock to lead the three-month independent review after a HM Inspectorate of Prisons report in March detailed the incident at Wetherby prison.

This led to a campaign by the Howard League urging the government to end the “wholly inappropriate” placements of girls in Wetherby and other prisons.