The prison was given a full inspection in October and November 2025, the full report can be read on the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website, just follow the links below. In their latest report the inspectors said:
HMYOI Wetherby, the largest young offender institution in England and Wales, holds boys aged 15 to 18 in West Yorkshire, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, with 97 children held at the time of inspection against a baseline certified normal capacity of 318. The Keppel Unit, a specialist unit within Wetherby that once held a national role for the most vulnerable children in custody, now functions mainly as mainstream provision, including a first-night and induction unit. Inspectors rated safety not sufficiently good, care reasonably good, purposeful activity not sufficiently good and resettlement Good, all unchanged from the previous inspection.
Around 47% of planned releases left with an education or employment placement arranged, and most children had a confirmed accommodation address about a week before release. Ninety-one per cent of children understood how to make a complaint, with generally timely responses, and 68% reported gym access more than once a week. A new governor and deputy had driven improvement at an accelerated pace since the previous inspection, and inspectors saw the recent fall in population as an opportunity to speed up further positive change.
Inspectors nonetheless found safety a serious weakness, with 491 assaults recorded in the year, 63 of them serious, alongside 950 use-of-force incidents and 742 weapons discovered. Only 49% of children said they felt cared for, and 54% reported verbal abuse from staff. Children were separated from normal location for an average of 12 days, with some over 50 days, and education was rated inadequate, with attendance only around half.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
December 2025
To read the full reports, go to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website or follow the links below:
| Inspection report (PDF), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby and the Keppel Unit by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (27 October–6 November 2025, published 9 February 2026) | Easy read summary of the 2025 inspection report |