Youth justice advocates argue the WA government is demonising young people in detention as scrutiny mounts over the controversial juvenile facility Unit 18. Last month, a 16-year-old died in hospital one week after attempting to take his own life while inside the facility.
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00:00 It's a form of terrorism they're engaged in.
00:08 The descent into dysfunction in WA's youth detention system is a long one, accelerated
00:13 by a destructive period that saw the government set up Unit 18, a maximum security home for
00:19 the state's most difficult teenagers.
00:22 We're acting to protect the staff, protect the majority of detainees who are complying
00:29 with their obligations, but also to provide a better environment for these 20 detainees
00:35 so that they can receive the support they need to change their behaviour as well.
00:40 Those individuals are disruptive, violent and complex and challenging.
00:46 It's an issue the government struggled to get a handle on, brought into sharp focus
00:50 by the death of 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd, who was found unresponsive inside Unit 18
00:55 following a suicide attempt.
00:59 The reason the Aboriginal Legal Service wrote to the Department of Corrections about this
01:05 young person was that we were deeply concerned about his mental health deteriorating as a
01:13 consequence of him remaining in Unit 18.
01:17 There's nothing in that letter that was new.
01:20 Unfortunately, 25% of the buildings at Banksy Hill were burnt down in the last riot.
01:26 It leaves us with no choice at the moment.
01:29 We don't accept that Unit 18 meets our standards for care and safety, but it's a necessary
01:36 evil at the moment while we continue to go about developing the plans for the new infrastructure
01:42 and reconfiguring the services and the model of care.
01:44 And I'm sick of the excuse making for this sort of conduct.
01:56 Any questions?
01:57 Have the other people come through already?
02:04 There are plenty from those who know the system inside out.
02:08 Great.
02:09 Thank you.
02:10 I'm asking this question on behalf of the family of Cleveland Dodd.
02:17 Why did the Department not tell the grandmother or the mother that they were transferring
02:25 him from Banksy Hill to Unit 18?
02:28 When we wrote our letter expressing our concerns for Master Dodd, why did you not respond to
02:34 that letter?
02:35 When will the state government invest in a whole of government policy to reduce children
02:42 going into detention?
02:44 The management, the bureaucrats, the government officials, they are not listening, they are
02:51 not hearing.
02:52 Why are the children coming out of Banksy Hill worse off than what they were when they
02:57 went in?
02:58 Why does the government continue to be reactive when there's enough information coming through
03:05 their departments to address issues that have been longstanding?
03:09 When are we going to see change?
03:12 Why aren't they working with the organisations more on the ground who are bringing together
03:17 solutions and need investment in those solutions in towns like Derby, in towns like Geraldton?
03:24 The solutions will lay within the community.
03:28 According to the state government, they can't comment on the specifics of Cleveland's
03:32 case because of ongoing investigations, including by the coroner.
03:36 They say in general, every effort is made to contact the family of young people when
03:40 they're moved to Unit 18, where they're offered every support they can.
03:44 That's in addition, the government says, to investments in communities across the state,
03:48 which have helped to reduce the rates of young people in detention to record lows.
03:53 In the wake of Cleveland's death, though, one question is bigger than all others.
03:58 For us, the answer is what happened to Cleveland.
04:02 Justice.
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