INCARCERATED young offenders are being failed by a “tick-box exercise” education system that needs a “complete overhaul,” Prison Officers Association (POA) general secretary Steve Gillan said today in response to a damning report.

A joint review by education watchdog Ofsted and HM Inspectorate of Prisons found that the quality of lessons in young offender institutions (YOIs) has been in decline over the past 10 years.

It warned that some children are spending only half an hour per day outside their cells as institutions struggle to cope with the complex behavioural problems of youths in care.