The Inspector for Custodial Services has detailed the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of youth detainees uncovered during a snap inspection of the state's juvenile detention facility, in a report tabled in the Western Australian parliament today.
It comes a day after the WA government announced a $25.1 million refurbishment of the Banksia Hill Detention Centre, with funds to go towards a $7.5 million crisis care unit, a new Aboriginal services unit, and improvement to the centre's intensive support unit.
The intensive support unit (ISU) has become the subject of scrutiny by Inspector Eamon Ryan, who said the unusual step of the unscheduled inspection in December was sparked by increasing concerns around rising incidents of self-harm, suicide attempts and assaults on staff.
"We also had concerns getting fed through to us from community members, through our liaison officer," Mr Ryan said.
Mr Ryan's inspection prompted him to issue a show cause notice to the Department of Justice and director general Adam Tomison.
He said he had a reasonable suspicion that detainees were being subjected to "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment".
"If you meet the minimum out-of-cell time of one hour per day, that means a young detainee is held in a cell on their own for 23 hours of the day," he said.
International human rights instruments set out a two-hour minimum out-of-cell requirement.
"As a part of our conclusions that we drew in late December is that those minimum conditions were not being met, and that was cruel and inhumane treatment," Mr Ryan said.
Boy 'snapped' after solitary confinement
Last year, a 14-year-old Kimberley boy was carrying out a five-month sentence due to his role in a series of home invasions and car thefts in Broome and was kept in the ISU for acting out while in the facility.
During his sentencing in November, his lawyer told the Broome Magistrates Court the boy "snapped" after spending up to 23 hours a day locked in solitary confinement for weeks at a time, and climbed onto the roof of the facility with other boys in protest.
The disturbance caused about $25,000 in damage to the facility, and was highlighted in Mr Ryan's report as an incident of "challenging behaviour" the short-staffed facility had to deal with.
"There were staff assaults, critical incidents resulting in kids getting on the fence, getting on the roof and [causing] significant infrastructure damage," Mr Ryan said.
Mr Ryan said it seemed as if the facility was being run as an adult prison.
It wasn't the first time the ISU has come under the microscope, with the Human Rights Law Centre flagging its own concerns in 2018 about the use of solitary confinement with child inmates.
Suicide pact outlined in report
The report explicitly found detainees were more likely to threaten or harm themselves on days when they were locked down, with one group referring to themselves as a "suicide squad", with an increase in self-harm events marked throughout the end of last year.
One detainee openly acknowledged "a suicide pact", and how his time in ISU had impacted his mental health.
An exchange with an interviewer for the Inspector detailed:
And have you tried to kill yourself in here, Alex?
Yeah.
And did you have a plan with those other boys?
Yeah like … they were stressing out.
The Department of Justice has flagged the refurbishment will address some mental health concerns raised about the facility, including using part of the funding to develop a $7.5 million crisis care unit and in-cell media streaming for education and therapeutic purposes.
Mr Ryan said there was also a need to commend the centre's workers and the response so far.
"The response has been very positive, absolutely positive," he said.
"One of the most crucial pieces of reform that they're doing is … engage an external consultant to develop an operational model of care, and I think that is the piece of reform, that that must be allowed to succeed, and it is the one that is most likely to have the longest and lasting impact."
Former detainees call for change
It is a view echoed by former inmate Jimmy*, a 17-year-old boy from Broome who was last in Banksia earlier this year.
"When you ask for a feed, they'll take four hours," he said.
"You can't make a phone call."
Jimmy is supported by his mother Katheryn*, who is part of a class-action lawsuit against the detention facility for the alleged mistreatment of the detainees.
Speaking to the ABC about the planned $25 million refurbishment, Katheryn said while it was reassuring to see investment in the facility, the need for on-country facilities in regional Western Australia remained unaddressed.
"It is good, it needs a bit of extra help … but it'd be really good to divide it and put [programs] in the Kimberley, the Pilbara.
"[Set up] a little boot camp, a rehab in the Kimberley before they get sent down to Banksia.
"I hope they use [the funding] properly and wisely on what it's meant to be used on, use it properly to watch those kids and provide them with better things in the prison.
The Inspector's show cause notice prompted the department to produce a response in December, which Mr Ryan said was comprehensive and reflected a commitment to change.
"But the young people in Banksia Hill need change now. They need support, understanding and more appropriately trained staff with a focus on youth care," Mr Ryan said.
"Their rights need to be respected."
Additional staff employed
In a statement, Dr Tomison said the Inspector's comments came after a "difficult cohort" of young people cycled through the facility.
“Meeting the complex needs of those young people, combined with staff shortages led to an increase in lockdowns, reduced access to some services and made it difficult to provide meaningful out-of-cell time across the centre, especially in the ISU.
“The improvements and reforms are helping return the centre to normal and safer operations, allowing the ISU in particular to sustainably address the needs of at-risk young people.”
The department said about 40 new officers had started at the facility in the past two months, and there had been a marked reduction in unscheduled lockdowns.
The tender to refurbish the unit is currently out to market.
The show cause notice has also been formally referred to Minister for Corrective Services Bill Johnston.
*Names have been changed to protect identities.
