Youth detention centres are at the heart of the state government's tactics for dealing with young offenders, but child advocates and youth crime victims say they are failing to rehabilitate juveniles.
Two of the centres are in Wacol — Brisbane Youth Detention Centre and West Moreton Youth Detention Centre — and the third, Cleveland Youth Detention, is in Townsville.
The centres have capacity to hold 306 children aged 10 to 18 who are either on remand or sentenced to detention in court.
The number of young people inside can fluctuate based on decisions made by courts and police arrests, the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs said.
However, if there is not a place for a young person at one of the centres, they can be held in police custody, in adult watch houses, until a placement becomes available.
The Queensland government has regularly insisted the vast majority of young people who come into contact with the youth justice system do not offend again following diversionary and rehabilitation programs, and it is 17 per cent of young offenders who commit 50 per cent of crimes.
Child advocates say youth detention can be a safer place for a child than their living circumstances on the outside, but can also expose them to more criminal activity and is ineffective at rehabilitating young people.
What happens when young people are admitted
The youth justice department said, "all young people, regardless of their sentencing status, are assessed on admission and assigned to programs that are tailored to suit their needs, age, development and rehabilitation goals".
"Young people also have access to specialised mental health services, including drug and alcohol interventions, to further support their rehabilitation and transition back into their communities. These services are operated by Queensland Health onsite at each youth detention centre," a spokesperson said.
Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes said when a young person is admitted to a youth detention centre, they get a check-up from a nurse.
"They get a mental health assessment, but that's not for a treatment plan, it's a risk mitigation, in case there is a mental health concern that has to be addressed urgently," she said.
"If there is a risk of suicide, the young person goes on a suicide risk management plan and is observed every two minutes."
Ms Hayes said within the first few days the juvenile is allocated a case worker and the case worker outlines when they can use phones and address any concerns the young person might have.
"They also tell them about the programs that might be available and ask if they're open to seeing a psychologist," she said.
According to a Queensland government website young people "follow a routine" that includes participating in school, programs and activities.
Upon admission a young person is given clothes, shoes and their belongings are taken and stored until they are released. A child is permitted to keep photographs of their family in their cell, which can be sent to them while they are in detention.
The centres have several "accommodation units" with "a kitchen, a lounge and dining room, a quiet area, an outdoor area and several young people's rooms".
Each secure cell contains a bed, toilet, shower, desk and shelf, with supplied bedding and toiletries.
A child can be locked in their room at times throughout the day and night, but the government website says they are checked on every 15 minutes if they are locked in their cell — including overnight.
Each day a child receives breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, with menus reviewed by dieticians and meals mostly prepared on site by kitchen staff.
Visitation and phone calls
A child can be visited by people who are important to them while they are in detention, including by family, friends, important community members, religious visitors, community groups, lawyers, case workers and others.
But Ms Hayes said there is often a long waitlist for family members to visit their young people in detention centres.
"There are challenges faced in remote areas because the detention centres hold young people from all over Queensland," she said.
Not including talking with their lawyer, caseworker or community visitor, a child is allowed 120 minutes of call time each week to talk to family and friends, with phone calls of up to 10 minutes at a time.
Unless it's an emergency, relatives cannot make calls to children, a child must call someone outside of the centre.
There is no limit on the number of letters family members can send a child inside a detention centre, but staff check all letters before children receive or send letters — except for those to or from a lawyer.
Remand
According to the Queensland government website, when a child is on remand they undergo a health check, go to school, communicate with a caseworker, have access to a psychologist or speech therapist, participate in programs, activities and physical activity.
"If your child is Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, they will also be supported by the youth detention centre's cultural unit and cultural staff," the website said.
However, Ms Hayes said the offerings to young people on remand can be ad-hoc.
Daily routine
The daily routine of children in youth detention on weekdays is referred to as "structured day" which begins at 7am and usually ends about 7.30pm to 7.45pm.
The structured day involves youths being required to wake up, shower dress and clean their rooms, eat breakfast, go to school or participate in programs, with meal breaks, and then having dinner, housekeeping and "unit time" before bed.
On weekends and public or school holidays, the government website says children are required to wake up, shower, get dressed and clean their room, go to breakfast, and participate in unit activities and housekeeping, before partaking in programs, lunch, free time or rest time and dinner before going to bed.
School
A department of Youth Justice spokesperson said youth detention centres deliver a range of education, vocational and rehabilitative programs that support both remanded and sentenced young people to change their behaviour and make better choices".
"Programs are designed to address the underlying causes of offending to break the offending cycle and prepare young people to re-enter school or employment when they leave detention," the spokesperson said.
Each youth detention centre has an education and training centre, which detainees are required to participate in five days a week.
For example, the Brisbane Youth Education and Training Centre at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, offers a junior secondary program for young people aged 10 to 14 aligned to the Australian curriculum and a senior secondary program for students aged 14 to 19.
Students can access the mathematics and English studies after they have left the facility through Vocational Training Queensland.
But Sisters Inside founder Debbie Kilroy said the education a child receives is determined by whether there's enough staff and whether the teachers can actually go into the respective sections of the centre and teach them.
"It's usually only for a few hours a day, like it's not proper schooling where they're passing their grades [and] they're in a grade at a level that they need to be. We know that children don't spend long periods in there," she said.
"They don't get access to much schooling at all, and we know that when they're out here in the free world, they're not going to school either, so we've got children who are not being educated at all."
Programs
Ms Hayes said some programs include obtaining a "white card" which is a health and safety requirement to work on construction sites.
She said the centres also have a "variety of courses" that includes "cooking, horticulture, bricklaying, and barista courses".
Ms Hayes said there is also general education that is available that provides basic reading and writing skills if they need it, and artistic programs like art, pottery, and metal work — "but not every section in a youth detention centre has access to those".
"There are different sections with differing levels of security and freedom," she said.
"The independent living section has access to those programs and if a young person's behaviour is questioned then they can be moved into a section without those privileges."
Ms Hayes said the system works best when Education Queensland staff and Youth Justice staff work together, but "they are overloaded".
"Another concern is the continuity in courses, if young people are moved from section to section, it is difficult to pick up continuing that course," she said.
What happens when they leave?
Ms Hayes said there is a gap in the plan for a young person leaving a detention centre.
"It is a big issue … often the young people are exiting into crisis, so they don't have stable family situations," she said.
"Child Safety might be involved and often they don't have a child safety placement so they're facing homelessness."
Ms Kilroy said youth detention centres were not rehabilitative.
She said the "caging of a child is one of the most horrific acts that the state could do to any child, no matter what they've done or are deemed to have done," she said.
"So putting a child in a youth prison does not stop harm in the community, right, in the long term, it actually will create more harm in the community in the long term."
'Ineffective and failing' says former correctives boss
Former Queensland Correctives Services director-general Keith Hamburger said generally, youth detention did not help treat children.
"The fact that there is recidivism and people graduating to adult jails means the system is ineffective and failing," he said.
"The placing of children in youth detention centre is ineffective because it's not a holistic approach to their needs, they typically come from disadvantaged, poverty-stricken families, they've been victims of poor parenting, so you can't treat the child in separation from their family circumstance."
Mr Hamburger said taking children out of their communities, out of their families and treating them separately "just doesn't work".
"The alternative to youth detention centre is to have smaller secure facilities that operate as therapeutic communities, close to their family, close to their community so programs can be run for both the children and the families," he said.
"These facilities should be small and not large detention centres."
Ms Hayes said some young people want to be in youth detention.
"I have heard from some young people who prefer being in detention centres because they receive meals, and it's a relatively safe place compared to their family environment. Some young people are homeless and detention centres can offer them some respite," she said.
"The downside to the detention centres is that the detainees are forging bonds with young people who have criminal lifestyles outside and are not laying any foundations for a productive life in the community."
