A Townsville magistrate has ordered the release of several children being held on remand in the city’s police watch house, amid growing human rights concerns at the treatment of young people within the Queensland justice system.
Guardian Australia has confirmed from multiple legal sources that on Thursday, a children’s court magistrate in Townsville asked that all children being held on remand in the watch house be brought before the court.
It is unclear whether every child was subsequently granted bail.
The deputy premier, Steven Miles, claimed the action was a “media stunt” that has put people’s safety at risk, and believes at least one appeal has been lodged.
The Queensland police service said in a statement to the Guardian on Friday morning that it was “exploring its legal options following the decision of the magistrate in releasing several young people being held in custody in Townsville”.
Later on Friday the state’s police minister, Mark Ryan, said police would be appealing “at least some” of the bail decisions to the Queensland supreme court but added he had not seen reasons for the decisions.
“If … the exclusive reason bail was granted is because of capacity, I would suggest that is an unlawful reason,” Ryan said.
The intervention by the courts comes amid a volatile debate about youth crime in Queensland, including claims by the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, that judges were being too lenient, and a growing number of children being detained in youth prisons and police watch houses for extended periods.
Damian Bartholomew, a solicitor for the Youth Advocacy Centre, said members of the judiciary had shown increasing concern about the conditions in watch houses.
“Over the last few weeks, many magistrates and judges have said to me the number of young people being held on remand is unacceptable, but that the judiciary have the discretion if a facility is not suitable for children they can grant them bail,” he said.
Earlier this week a children’s court magistrate in Mt Isa granted bail to a girl, citing as a concern the likelihood she could end up in a police watch house for an “extended” period. The magistrate, Eoin Mac Giolla Ri, had said in a separate case that housing children in watch houses exposed them to “adult detainees [who] are often drunk, abusive, psychotic or suicidal”.
The Queensland police service on Tuesday revealed more than 25 children had spent more than three weeks in watch houses so far this year. In one reported case, a girl with intellectual disabilities was detained for more than 30 days.
That represents a dramatic increase compared with data from September 2021 to September 2022, which indicates that one child was detained in a watch house for 14.8 days – the longest stint during the period.
In recent months, the youth justice debate has placed increased political pressure on the Queensland government, which is preparing to release a new suite of “even tougher” laws.
Experts have repeatedly raised concerns as more children are remanded under policies that have sought to deny bail to some children. They say greater rates of incarceration lead to increased rates of reoffending.
Meanwhile, youth detention centres have become overcrowded and minors are increasingly being kept in adult police watch houses.
Guardian Australia is aware of concerns that intervention from the judiciary may increase pressure on the government to harden its stance.
On Friday Miles said: “This media stunt is putting the community of Townsville in danger.”
“It should not be happening,” he said.
Ryan told reporters he was “frustrated” that children had been bailed.
“The appeal process has to run its course but I’m hopeful, I’m hopeful the supreme court will do its job, follow the law, and ensure that community safety is prioritised,” Ryan said.
“There are many places where people can be detained … the law is that if someone needs to be detained then they have to be detained. The state of Queensland will find a place to detain them. If they need to be detained in a watch house then that’s where they’ll be detained.”
The Queensland police service said after the release of several children on remand they had initiated an “action plan to manage the situation from a community safety perspective”.
“Officers will conduct additional patrols, extra bail compliance activities and undertake a range of engagement strategies as part of the action plan,” the QPS said.
“The QPS is working with the Department of Youth Justice, which manages the detention of high-risk young people, to minimise the time they spend in police watch houses before being transferred to a detention centre.”
