A riot at the controversial Banksia Hill Detention Centre has ended after inmates held police at bay for more than 12 hours, with confronting vision showing armed officers on the roof moving in to quell the disturbance.
Aerial vision recorded from a helicopter showed a line of riot squad officers, armed with shields and some form of weapon, walking across the roof of one of the blocks, with a small number of detainees lying on their stomachs with their hands behind their backs.
One by one the detainees – who were earlier standing on the roof, hurling projectiles and refusing to surrender – crawled across to the officers, who then escorted each of them off the building and led them away.
Premier Mark McGowan has condemned the teenagers as engaging in "a form of terrorism" and behaving in an "appalling" manner.
The "major disturbance" involved almost 50 detainees at the detention centre in Canning Vale, in the city's south.
The riot began about 8:30pm on Tuesday when a number of detainees breached their cells, WA's Department of Justice said in an earlier statement.
The inmates began moving within the grounds and onto the roof of the centre, lighting fires and damaging infrastructure.
Stand-off drags into morning
As the sun came up on Wednesday, at least 14 detainees had remained on the roof of a building close to the front entrance of the facility.
Police in riot gear and firefighters watched on as the inmates showed few signs of giving up, despite cold weather and intermittent heavy rain, until the armed officers scaled the roof about 10:30am.
Aerial vision showed damage throughout the grounds of the facility, including smashed windows and roof panels, broken furniture and fire-scorched buildings.
Furniture including chairs, a table, a mattress and other debris was strewn throughout the centre, some of it burnt.
A damaged golf buggy-style vehicle was also seen bogged in sand, while a purple scooter was thrown on the roof of a building.
Yellow graffiti was also scrawled on walls and pavement and white paint was thrown around a basketball court.
A stream of uniformed officers, specialist police, corrections staff and firefighters were seen arriving and leaving the facility all morning.
Loud banging could be heard coming from inside of a large white van as it left the centre, escorted by police shortly after 9am.
Fires lit in accommodation blocks
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services was called to extinguish fires in several accommodation blocks, with some detainees allegedly trying to block firefighters from attending the blazes.
Authorities said significant damage had been caused to the site, and would require a full assessment.
A large police contingent attended the centre, including the regional operations group, polair and the K9 unit.
No staff or detainees were injured, the Justice Department said in an updated statement on Wednesday, although the damage caused was "extensive".
It said several detainees had been moved to unit 18 at Casuarina adult prison, and "those responsible for the damage and fires will likely face police charges".
'A form of terrorism': McGowan
Mr McGowan described the behaviour of the detainees who rioted at Banksia Hill as "utterly unacceptable".
"It's a form of terrorism they're engaged in," he said.
"They are behaving in an appalling way, [they] have no respect for anyone."
He said some detainees had lit fires and tried to prevent the fire brigade from getting access to put them out, while others had tied sheets together in an unsuccessful bid to climb the fences.
The premier said the riot started when a detainee threatened a youth custodial officer with a brick, then managed to obtain a key when she retreated, using it to unlock accommodation units.
Mr McGowan denied the government had lost control of Banksia Hill.
Unit 18 to be used for longer
Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston said the facility could continue to operate as some buildings were unaffected by the disturbance.
But he said the damage meant child detainees currently held at Unit 18 in Casuarina adult prison would not be able to be moved back to Banksia Hill on the original timeline.
"Unfortunately, last night, the violent behaviour of these detainees have held back our plan to improve Banksia Hill," he said.
Three detainees had been transported to Unit 18 at Casuarina in the wake of the latest riot.
Mr Johnston said that of the 47 detainees involved, six were older than 18.
On average, detainees were spending seven hours a day out of their cells, he said.
The Minister said a full day of education programs had been held yesterday, including life coaching and hip-hop classes, and a football match had been held between detainees and an external youth team.
'Heavy-handed approach' condemned
WA's Commissioner for Children and Young People, Jacqueline McGowan-Jones, has criticised the "heavy-handed approach" used to end the riot.
In April, she issued a call for help for the youth justice system after visiting Banksia Hill.
One day after her visit, two young detainees at Casuarina Prison's unit 18 assaulted a female officer, before taking her keys and using them to free other detainees.
In a statement, Ms McGowan-Jones said she was "extremely concerned about the continued lack of care for our children and young people incarcerated".
"The safety of the children is the number one priority," she said in a statement.
"I urge the West Australian Government to immediately consider new models that include restorative justice approaches as an urgent priority, rather than the heavy-handed approach we are seeing play out right now, and too many times before."
Ms McGowan-Jones said the children at Banksia Hill had been living with trauma, racism and marginalisation for all their lives and, instead of placing blame on them, another response was needed.
"They need us to give them a therapeutic response that is focused on their social and emotional well-being and is not blaming them for circumstances beyond their control," she said.
A range of First Nations female leaders joined Ms McGowan-Jones in demanding immediate changes to the state's approach to youth justice.
Hannah McGlade, a Noongar woman and Indigenous activist, raised concerns about the conditions young people were subject to in detention.
"There's a long history of criminalisation of Aboriginal children and young people in our state and this must end," she said.
"There are laws that have been condemned by the United Nations.
"The three strikes laws which are driving the very high incarceration rate of Aboriginal children and of course the young age of criminalisation.
"From a mere 10 years of age, Aboriginal children largely are being criminalised in our state in contravention of UN human rights law that is binding on Australia."
Riot follows guard's assault conviction
The latest riot comes less than a week after a youth custodial officer was found guilty of assaulting a boy at the detention centre.
CCTV footage showed Mark Thomas Griffen pulling the youth to the floor off a box in May 2022.
The court was told on Wednesday that the boy had committed dozens of offences in detention, including headbutting, spitting, kicking, throwing urine and vandalism.
Griffen was fined $3,000 and given a spent conviction.
Magistrate Brian Mahon described the detention centre environment as "dangerous" and "challenging," but that the force Griffen had used "went too far in all the circumstances".
Lockdowns fuel tensions
Advocates have consistently raised concerns with how long detainees spend in their cells at Banksia Hill, saying it contributes to tensions at the troubled facility.
The Supreme Court in WA has also spoken of the "considerable harm" that can cause after finding the state government broke its own laws by locking a boy in his cell for extended periods, some up to 24 hours a day, on 26 occasions between January and June last year.
By July, detainees at Banksia Hill were spending an average of 7.41 hours a day outside their cells, according to figures given to parliament.
The highest out-of-cell hours, according to those figures, was in November when detainees were outside for an average of 8.9 hours a day.
But data presented in parliament yesterday showed it has since dropped to just over 7 hours on average this month.
There were 871 separate instances of detainees being kept in their cell for more than 20 hours a day in April, with 206 instances already recorded this month.
