As the South Australian government weighs up whether to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10, attention has turned to the conditions inside youth detention. The ABC has been granted rare, restricted access inside a youth justice centre north of Adelaide, ahead of the opening of a new 12-bed unit later this year.
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00:00This is where children as young as 10 could end up if they run into trouble with the law.
00:08Young people are punished enough by being removed from their families and friends, but
00:15what we see here is a strong message that we can do better.
00:19A $22 million upgrade of the Kalana Tapa Youth Justice Centre includes a sensory room, outdoor
00:25courtyard and shared spaces.
00:28It's been developed and built with young people's input, children who have come into the space.
00:35It's inevitable that you have to have some sort of institutional feel, you know the doors,
00:39the handles and things like that, but wherever possible we've tried to pull those back and
00:44create an environment that is more therapeutic.
00:47On any given day, more than 30 children are detained at the centre.
00:51Many are First Nations, have disabilities or live in state care.
00:56Many children in the centre come from traumatised backgrounds, have had not many people around
01:04them to guide them.
01:05Shona Reid is legislated to advocate for children in detention.
01:10Her office has provided these photos of the existing centre.
01:14The buildings and the facilities in the older part of the training centre, they are old
01:19and they do require refurbishment.
01:21I have already had a conversation with our team as to how we can incorporate some of
01:27these really clever, newer features into some of our other spaces.
01:32The government says the new building will open later this year.