A teenage inmate has been found hanging at a young offenders' institution which was last year described by the chief inspector of prisons as unsafe.

John Scholes, 16, was found in the health centre at Stoke Heath young offenders' institution, near Market Drayton, Shropshire, on Sunday. He was hanging from the window of a cell by a ligature.

The teenager was taken by air ambulance to North Staffordshire royal infirmary, but medical staff were unable to revive him.

John Scholes was serving two years at Stoke Heath for robbery. His family are thought to live in Manchester.

The coroner has been informed and an inquest will be opened today. An investigation is also being carried out by the prison service.

A spokeswoman for the prison service said: "John Scholes was found hanging in the health care centre at 3.21pm on Sunday. Staff at tempted resuscitation and he was taken by air ambulance, but pronounced dead on arrival."

Last year, the then chief inspector of prisons, Sir David Ramsbotham, described Stoke Heath as unsafe. An inspection revealed that there were 717 acts of violence during an eight month period. Most of the incidents were assaults or fights.

Sir David, who has since retired, said the level of violence was the worst he had ever found involving children and young people in custody.

But in a follow-up visit seven months later, Sir David said the new governor, Cathy James, had turned the institu tion around. The number of people who said they felt unsafe on their first night had fallen from 35% to 16% and there were fewer assaults.

Martin Narey, director general of the prison service, described it is an establishment which had shown real evidence of weathering in a period of turbulence.

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Back ground information:

Youth jail violence alarms prison inspectors

 Evidence of "horrendous" levels of violence with more than 700 reported injuries to young prisoners has been uncovered inside a young offender institution by the chief inspector of prisons.

Sir David Ramsbotham was so disturbed by the violent culture discovered inside Stoke Heath YOI, near Market Drayton, Shropshire, that he immediately wrote to the home secretary, Jack Straw, demanding that no more children be housed in two of its wings.

The damning report on yet another young offender institution contrasts sharply with a report published this week on Swinfen Hall YOI in Staffordshire, which was described as a centre of excellence.

The Stoke Heath report, published today, says the level of injuries found was unprecedented, with "assaults, fighting and violence endemic" among the 600 inmates inside residential wings of the youth jail.

It says that over an eight-month period last year some 717 acts of violence had been recorded involving injuries to the teenage inmates. There were 268 injuries caused by assaults by other inmates, a further 282 during fights, 116 from incidents of self-harm, and 95 were minor injuries from staff using control and restraint methods. Sir David said the figures were the highest he had seen in five years of inspecting youth jails.

The inspection, which took place last October, also disclosed that six out of 10 inmates said they were put through some sort of initiation test when they arrived. All the juveniles who arrived in the 10 days before last year's inspection said they were "very frightened and in constant fear of assault from other children".

One child who had been there for two weeks, had two black eyes and was considerably distressed. He told inspectors that he had been attacked four times since he had arrived.

"The prison service must ensure that basic standards for the treatment of children in custody are never allowed to deteriorate to the level found at Stoke Heath," said Sir David. "It is quite clear that too many children and young people in Stoke Heath neither felt, nor were, safe. I have never before had to report such a horrendous number of reported injuries to children and young prisoners.

"It is important that no more children should be sent to the juvenile induction and remand wings until decent and humane treatment and conditions are in place."

Immediately before the inspection the governor and deputy governor had been removed from their posts and replaced by an acting governor and deputy from another youth jail.

The director general of the prison service, Martin Narey, denied that Stoke Heath was either unsafe or inhumane: "It is an establishment which has shown real evidence of weathering a period of turbulence, to regain a sense of stability and purpose."

He said a range of proven anti-bullying measures had been introduced and the number of completed injury report forms had more than halved since the inspection last October. The use of restraint techniques by staff had also fallen by almost 70%.