Staff have described Banksia Hill juvenile detention centre in Perth as an "unsafe and inhumane workplace", slamming the Department of Justice for inaction.
In a letter to WA's Acting Commissioner of Corrective Services, Mike Reynolds, they recommended a portion of the centre's juveniles be immediately moved to an adult prison to improve conditions for both staff and the detainees.
The letter, obtained by the ABC Perth's Mornings program, said because of increased workloads and severe understaffing, on some days there were nine or more lockdowns in each unit, "with an ever-increasing risk to staff as detainees refuse to return to cell".
Staff said there had been an "extreme increase" in the level of self-harm and suicidal ideation, saying it had resulted in one detainee needing CPR and being revived on two separate occasions.
"Staff daily are enduring constant abuse and assaults from a cohort of detainees who are frustrated and angry due to lockdowns that sometimes last for several days at a time," the letter said.
They said there were currently 60 cells out of order and staff had been forced to place vulnerable 11-year-old detainees with 16-to-18-year-old inmates.
Not the first time concerns raised: staff
The letter was written on a Community and Public Sector Union letterhead and signed by the "Banksia Hill Delegates Group".
The group reminded Mr Reynolds they had been raising concerns about staff and detainee safety and understaffing since mid-2021.
It added that staff were committed to long-term solutions for Banksia Hill, but "right now they are risking their safety to provide the barest of service in an unsafe and inhumane workplace".
They laid the blame on the "inaction and inadequate response of the department".
The proposal to move juvenile detainees to an adult prison came with the acknowledgement that both the department and Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston had asked CPSA representatives to come forward with solutions.
The letter said the move would "assist with changing dynamic of detainees, to provide additional resources with safe management of cohort, to allow for repairs to be facilitated at current facility".
Staff-detainee ratio among safety measures enforced
The union representing staff at Banksia Hill said they had decided to enforce safety measures which effectively meant there were now rolling lockdowns at the centre.
Community and Public Sector Union state secretary Ricki Hendon said in response to the letter, the department had not offered to do anything to alleviate the immediate crisis.
She said staff had determined to work only when there was a ratio of two staff to eight detainees, and no staff member would be left alone.
"That in practice would mean that our members would be opening parts of the centre where they could practice that safe ratio," she said.
Minister says work underway to improve conditions
The president of the Perth Children's Court was last week highly critical of conditions at Banksia Hill, calling on the government to replace the 'inadequate' facilities.
Sentencing a 15-year-old boy for serious crimes, he said the teenager's detention had been "dehumanising" and warned that "if you want to make a monster, this is the way you do it".
"When you treat a damaged child like an animal, they will behave like an animal," Judge Hylton Quail said.
Judge Quail said critical staff shortages were exacerbating the issues
In a statement responding to the staff letter, Mr Johnston said initiatives were underway to improve the situation at Banksia Hill.
"Immediate enhancements are being made to infrastructure, recruitment has been underway for some time with 40 personnel currently in training who will commence on site in March and April with further training courses being recruited to, and a new contemporary model of care for young people in custody is under development," he said.
"I will also continue discussions with key stakeholders, including unions, to make sure their concerns are heard."
Letter 'particularly disturbing': Opposition
WA's Shadow Corrective Services Minister Peter Collier said the letter reflected the lack of staffing and resources that prison officers had told him about.
"It doesn't remotely surprise me," he said.
"It sort of reflects, dare I say it, a culture right through our prison and detention centres. But it's particularly disturbing when we're dealing here with juveniles."
Department of Justice director-general Adam Thomison told ABC Radio Perth on Friday that social media competitions between detainees were fueling some of the violence and self-harm.
"That's playing out in Banksia Hill as well, where you've got competitions to ascend fences or damage units or assault staff and also at times to self-harm," he said.
"That's incredibly disturbing, and we're doing the best we can to manage all that."
