The governor of a young offenders’ institute is standing down following a series of articles in the Bucks Herald about conditions at the prison.

Shane Bryans has moved to a new position at the Home Office.

His move comes after the newspaper highlighted the number of violent incidents and several deaths at the institute.

Acting editor David Feldstein said that the paper was simply reflecting public concerns.

He said: “This has been going on for about 12 months. We know that morale has been really low and we received information from a number of officers about what’s been going on.

“We’ve covered the story in a fair bit of detail because it is such a strong area of public concern.”

“We’ve been careful not to claim responsibility for him leaving but there’s a fair chance that someone at the Home Office has taken note of the publicity surrounding his time as governor.

“His record speaks for itself but I’m sure some of the media attention, both from us and the BBC, has been taken into account.”

The Herald has paid close attention to Shane Bryans during his time in post. In that time there have been five deaths, 220 self-harm incidents, a laundry protest, a riot and barricades.

At one time as many as 32 staff were off sick each day and anonymous prison officers contacted the Herald claiming morale was at an all time low.

Mr Bryans survived a vote of confidence in November 1999 but last week it was announced he would be standing down as governor to take up his new position.

David explained: “We got a fairly unspecific memo from the Home Office. I think it will be quite interesting to see what happens with the new man taking over.”

Mr Bryans will be replaced by Mick Bell who is currently deputy governor at Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes.

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