Young people in custody are likely to reoffend, questioning current resettlement practice. In Wales, the Resettlement Broker Project was established to address this, beginning by assessing current practice. The ensuing data set of interviews with young people from North Wales serving sentence in England was analysed regarding custody and resettlement experiences. Resettlement and desistance literature provided a strong basis for effective working; the slowness of the English and Welsh youth justice system to truly incorporate desistance thinking means that these young people missed a potentially beneficial working ethos, centred on personal goals and individual strengths, indicating the need for radical change.