Almost half of the cells at Western Australia's only youth prison are out of action because they have been damaged by detainees, with a leading youth justice advocate saying it is a sign of the pressure the facility is putting troubled young prisoners under.
It was revealed in state budget estimates yesterday that about 100 of the cells at Banksia Hill Detention Centre, which has a capacity of 250, were too damaged to use.
Department of Justice director-general Adam Tomison told parliament it was an unusually high number.
"This is a cohort which police referred to in media, for example, targeting their vehicles for ram raids and things.
"Those young people, who have quite complex needs, have ended up in Banksia, a proportion of them, and those young people have been engaging in a whole range of behaviours which has made operating Banksia quite difficult."
Cell damage 'quite significant'
The comments appear to reference a string of highly publicised attacks on police officers in the Kimberley, including reports of children as young as 10 stealing cars and using them to ram police vehicles.
It comes against the background of rising youth crime rates, with 302 juvenile offenders arrested in the region in 2021 and 163 already arrested so far this year, a figure on track to reach a four-year high.
Dr Tomison said young people being sent to Banksia were damaging everything from beds and toilets to communications equipment in their cells.
"Even to the extent that sometimes some individuals have managed to take apart part of the wall between cells," he said.
"It's quite significant, and at the moment while other areas of concern for us have reduced, cell damage is quite a significant one.
"We have a significant program of contractors going in each day to rectify that cell damage as quickly as possible, [to] bring those cells online."
Most troubled youth 'corralled in holding pen'
National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project coordinator Gerry Georgatos said the damaged cells were just a sign of the strain detainees were under at Banksia Hill.
"There's not enough support for them," he said.
"These are our most troubled Kimberley youth, they're the most vulnerable youth imaginable who've got very few or little safety nets. Some have no safety nets at all."
Mr Georgatos said separating young people from their families was having a detrimental impact, and it was being reflected in tensions at the facility.
He particularly pointed to the the facility's intensive support unit (ISU), saying it made things worse, not better, for detainees.
"What they need is nurture on a 24/7 basis equivalent to what's on the outside and the family unit, and they need support.
"I've worked with a lot of these troubled youth, and it doesn't matter how acutely volatile they are or aberrant, if you treat them the way they should be treated, as you would treat your own children or loved ones, they'll reciprocate that back."
The advocacy group is sponsoring a class action lawsuit, alleging mistreatment at the facility over the excessive use of solitary confinement in the Intensive Support Unit.
'Cruel and degrading' treatment highlighted
In February, the head of the Perth Children's Court slammed the treatment of a teenage detainee at Banksia Hill, warning "if you want to make a monster, this is the way you do it".
Days later, staff at the prison raised concerns, warning increasing violence was putting staff and detainees at high risk.
Two months on, a report by WA's prisons watchdog found "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" of detainees at Banksia Hill.
Sparked by increasing concerns around rising incidents of self-harm, suicide attempts and assaults on staff, the review focused on the ISU.
It was described as a place with functions including "crisis care, discipline and consequences, and management of the most challenging male detainees".
The report highlighted that on an ordinary day, detainees were entitled to at least one hour out of their cell per day – less than the two-hour minimum set out in relevant international human rights instruments.
Inspector Eamon Ryan noted the difficulties the facility faced in managing "a small cohort of detainees with complex and challenging needs".
"This tells us that the management and care of these children must be trauma-informed and evidence-based with at the very least an equal focus on welfare needs alongside custodial needs."
In response, Dr Tomison said the report came after the facility had seen a "difficult cohort" cycle through.
"Meeting the complex needs of those young people, combined with staff shortages led to an increase in lockdowns, reduced access to some services and made it difficult to provide meaningful out-of-cell time across the centre, especially in the ISU," he said.
"Improvements and reforms are helping return the centre to normal and safer operations, allowing the ISU in particular to sustainably address the needs of at-risk young people."
Banksia Hill cell confinement 'extreme'
A Broome court was recently given fresh insight into tensions in the facility, when it was dealing with a 14-year-old boy who played a leading role in a riot at the facility last year.
He was charged with criminal damage after he climbed onto the roof in protest and damaged air conditioners, windows and aerial antennas.
The court was told the Kimberley boy acted out after spending his five-month sentence predominantly in the ISU.
His defence lawyer, Paul Tobin, said the boy spent 23 hours a day in the unit, and that had taken its toll.
"It's extreme what he's been through over these five months … it's confinement of up to 23 hours a day," he said.
"He's asking and asking, 'I need to get out', and he cracked."
Changes underway, department says
The Department of Justice said while the courts decided over youth being sent to Banksia Hill, a range of support programs were on offer, including for health, rehabilitative, recreational, cultural and educational needs.
"Changes and upgrades at Banksia Hill have been underway since 2021, and reforms in the works aim to adopt best practice to the centre," a department spokesperson said.
"The department is developing a new operating philosophy and service model that will better enable the delivery of services to young people using trauma-informed principles in line with child safe practices."
They said that model included "new or refined assessment and intervention frameworks", a "redeveloped therapeutic culture that supports positive behaviour management", individualised case planning and the promotion of cultural responsibility.
On the issue of the time detainees spent outside their cells, the spokesperson said the aim was to maximise that time, but that serious incidents including self-harm and assaults on staff "require concerted staff responses" that could make it difficult to allow other prisoners out of their cells.
In April, the WA government announced it would spent more than $25 million over four years to improve conditions at Banksia Hill.
That included $7.5 million to build a new crisis care unit, as well as money to improve the intensive supervision unit and create new recreation areas.
In-cell media streaming for "educational, therapeutic and cultural materials" was also announced, with $3.6 million put towards staffing an Aboriginal Services Unit.
The money also went towards eight more Aboriginal welfare officers and Aboriginal medical and mental health workers to be employed at the facility.
At the time, Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston said the government was "committed to the safety of both staff and detainees".
