A civil case brought by the Aboriginal Legal Service has seen the Western Australia court declare the confinement of a teenage boy during lockdown 'unlawful'.
The lock downs happened between between January and July this year when the facility was understaffed. Despite this Justice Paul Tottle found the boy's treatment was in breach of the Young Offenders Act.
Justice Tottle described the lockdowns as a 'severe measure'.
"Confining children to their sleeping quarters in a detention centre for long hours, thus effectively confining them in isolation, can only be characterised as an extraordinary measure," he said.
"One that should only be implemented in rare or exceptional circumstances… because of very significant harm such confinement can do to children in detention, many of whom are already psychologically vulnerable.
"It is a significantly more difficult and challenging experience for a young person to spend 24 hours in isolation than it is for an adult."
During the case the Department of Justice revealed the boy was locked in his cell all day on 13 June 2022 and only had 30 minutes out of his cell during on two days in February.
The Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA) said it had repeatedly raised concerns about the lockdowns with the Minister for Corrective Services, Bill Johnston, and the Department of Justice since December 2021and had no choice but to take legal action.
ALSWA is also acting on behalf of more than 20 other children who have laid individual complaints about lockdowns, lack of mental health services, education and recreation services at Banksia Hill over the last six months.
An observation cell at Banksia Hill. Source: Supplied/OICS
Breach of human rights
ALSWA CEO Dennis Eggington welcomed todays ruling by the supreme court and said,
‘The conditions at Banksia Hill breach international human rights standards and amount to unlawful solitary confinement.
‘These children deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, not locked in a cell all day with only 10 minutes out or none at all.
They need fresh air, human connection, education and adults to mentor them, if they are provided with these basic things, they will not act out," he said.
ALSWA is also acting on behalf of more than 20 other children who have laid individual complaints about lockdowns, lack of mental health services, education and recreation services at Banksia Hill over the last six months.
CEO Dennis Eggington. Source: Sarah Collard
'Not fit for purpose'
The supreme court decision comes after lawyers representing three Indigenous youth detainees transferred to the Casuarina adult prison from Banksia Hill reported a series of self-harm incidents at the so-called unit 18 facility.
Lawyers for the children say the incidents prove the strategy of housing children at a stand alone youth detention centre at an adult prison is not working and have demanded the facility be shut down.
Solicitor Dana Levitt who represents some of the children that have tried to self-harm inside Casuarina Prison said,
“Over the past five days we have had two individuals who have overdosed, one on his own medication which he stockpiled," she said.
"Another on medication from a stockpile he got from another detainee in unit 18 and the third is the most shocking of all and that involves a boy that managed to hang himself not once but twice in an hour period.
"You explain how that happens in a child-safe environment where they are being observed."
Ms Levitt said there was "absolutely no question" that the facility is "not fit for purpose".
“Certainly there has been a move of children back to Banksia Hill which supports that contention," she said.
"Unit 18 is not a place for children it never has been and it never should be and no child should be in there for a minute longer."
Leanne Michael is related to some of the children that spent time inside Unit18 and says she is deeply disturbed by the self-harm reports.
“I have been trying to help them because I am the only support they have had for most of their lives," she said.
Leanne Michael is concerned by the lack of supervision for kids inside unit 18
“I did not know that they were taken to Unit 18.
“How can he do that in there?
Why wasn’t there anyone around there watching them kids."
The Department of Corrections has confirmed that 9 of the 17 young people at the adult prison have been moved back to Banksia Hill.
