// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Jimmy McGovern claims young offender institution staff 'lazy'
McGovern said he was "appalled" after visiting young offender institutions to research his series
Bafta-winning screenwriter Jimmy McGovern has said going into young offender institutions to research his new drama left him believing that keeping inmates isolated from each other for long periods allowed staff to "sit on their backsides all day and do nothing".
McGovern said he was shocked after visiting "appalling" facilities while researching the latest series of his BBC drama Time.
He told BBC North West Tonight those in young offender institutions (YOIs) were "banged up 23 hours a day" as part of a policy to stop offenders mixing, which gave officers an "excuse for being lazy".
The Prison Officers' Association (POA) said that criticism was "unfair" to call officers lazy - and the policy was essential due to a daily threat of serious violence.
Liverpool-born McGovern focused on adult prison estates in the first two series of BBC hit Time.
But his third series, which sees a young cast star alongside David Tennant and Siobhan Finneran, follows young offenders through a system which McGovern said had "got to be better".
The new series stars Siobhan Finneran, Chukwubuikem Molokwu and David Tennant
In researching the series, which he wrote with Samuel Bailey, McGovern decided to get a behind-the-scenes look inside real-life YOIs.
He said what he witnessed left him "truly shocked".