Victorian Liberal MP Matt Bach has written to the United Nations subcommittee on the prevention of torture, urging them to investigate the “systematic” use of isolation in the state’s youth justice facilities during an upcoming visit.
The subcommittee is set to visit Australia from 16-27 October to inspect places of detention and examine the treatment of detainees.
There is a bill currently before Victoria’s parliament to facilitate the group’s visit.
Bach, the opposition’s spokesperson for child protection and youth justice, wrote to the subcommittee’s chair, Lebanon’s Suzanne Jabbour, on Thursday, urging her to visit the Malmsbury and Parkville youth justice facilities, due to “well documented” and “very serious breaches of detainees’ human rights [that] are currently occurring”.
“Arbitrary solitary confinement is systematically used, in contravention of both state and international law, because of the government’s longstanding failure to recruit sufficient staff,” Bach said in the letter, which was seen by Guardian Australia.
“Many of the most vulnerable and traumatised young people in our state are locked in small rooms, often for hours, absent any human interaction – all to manage a situation that they themselves have done nothing to precipitate.”
Bach pointed to the latest figures from the Department of Justice, which show detainees in youth justice facilities were placed in isolation 8,306 times for security reasons between April and June.
This is an increase of 53% from the first three months of 2022, and a 52% increase on the same period in 2021.
Covid-related placement in isolation occurred 1,254 times – a drop from 1,816 in the first three months of the year when the state was in the grips of an Omicron outbreak – while behavioural concerns almost doubled from 284 to 511.
Bach’s letter references an inquiry by the state’s commissioner for children and young people, which found “long term staff shortages” contributed to children being “locked in their rooms arbitrarily”. He also referenced a 2019 ombudsman’s report that said the practice was “likely to be contrary to law, incompatible with Victoria’s human rights legislation, oppressive, discriminatory or simply, wrong”.
“Despite the findings of the commission and ombudsman, the government’s use of these practices persists unabated. Thus, I would urge you to please inspect Victoria’s two youth justice facilities during your upcoming visit to Australia, and then share your findings publicly,” Bach wrote.
The use of isolation in Victoria is regulated by the Children, Youth and Families Act and involves placing a child or a young person in a locked room, separate from others and away from the normal routine of the centre.
Isolation can be used to prevent a young person harming themselves or others, or from damaging property. It can also be used if deemed to be in the interests of the security of the centre.
Isolating a young person as a form of punishment is expressly prohibited.
Monique Hurley, the managing lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said isolating children was “cruel” and “damaging”.
“A good government would not lock children alone for hours on end. During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and beyond, the Andrews government must reduce the number of children being pipelined into prisons rather than increasingly placing them at risk of destructive isolation practices,” she said in a statement.
Hurley also urged the government to implement the UN’s Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture as a matter of priority.
A Victorian government spokesperson said total isolation cases – including those related to Covid – have fallen by 38% over four years and by 9% since June 2021.
“Youth justice staff provide regular wellbeing checks to any young person in isolation, along with proactive support for mental health, education and social engagement - whether through face-to-face or remote means,” the spokesperson said.
