© Tom Blewitt – HMP Prisons Justice Group
A prison officer at Parc Prison is facing serious allegations following claims of a violent assault on a 14-year-old boy held in the Juvenile Young Offenders Unit in 2009.
The officer, whose full name has been provided to us but will be referred to as “JW” for legal reasons, is accused of attacking the boy while he was in custody. The survivor, now an adult, has chosen to remain anonymous.
The assault occurred in the prison showers and left him with a broken jaw. He alleges that JW struck him deliberately, and that the incident was captured on CCTV—but no accountability followed.
In a powerful statement shared with us, the survivor said:
“I used to be confident—out of my cell, going about my day-to-day, doing education, cleaning, mixing with my mates. But we were always getting bullied. Then one day, in the showers, he knew he could get away with it. He gave me a dig and broke my jaw. It would’ve been on CCTV, but he still got away with it—like they always do. He claimed self-defence and said I started it. That incident changed everything. I couldn’t come out of my cell. I was constantly watching my back, wondering if he’d pay one of the other boys to sort me out. I couldn’t go on visits because I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t speak on the phone. As a kid, that’s not a situation you should ever be in. It’s scary, man.”
He also described a broader culture of impunity within Parc Prison, claiming that abuse was widespread and routinely ignored. He called for other officers to be removed from the prison service and demanded accountability from G4S, the private company that operates Parc, stating bluntly: “G4S needs sacking.”
HMP Prisons Justice Group is urging the government to remove G4S from its role at Parc Prison and return the facility to direct public control. We argue that private management has failed to safeguard vulnerable children in custody, and that this case raises serious questions about the safety of young people behind bars.
HMP Prisons Justice Group 