First Nations children account for 84% of Queensland youth detainees put in solitary confinement

In the year to June 2022, more than 30,000 young people were held in solitary confinement in youth detention, in figures described as ‘incredibly alarming’. Photograph: luoman/Getty Images

First Nations advocates are calling for an urgent investigation into Queensland’s youth detention centres after figures revealed 84% of children placed in solitary confinement over a 12-month period were Indigenous.

The statistics, tabled in state parliament this month, showed while Indigenous children account for 62% of Queensland’s youth detention population, they made up 84% of those placed in solitary confinement between July 2021 to June 2022.