Some WA juveniles now being sent to men’s prison

Some West Australian juvenile offenders are being sent to the Hakea maximumsecurity men’s jail, in the latest sign of the stress in the state’s prison system.

The Australian has learned that the Children’s Court has sent multiple under-18s to Hakea in recent weeks, amid ongoing issues inside both the Banksia Hill juvenile detention centre and the controversial Unit 18 at the Casuarina men’s prison.

The Children’s Court has the ability to sentence or remand juveniles aged 16 or over to adult prisons under the state’s Young Offenders Act.

WA is also starting to move juveniles inside Banksia Hill and Unit 18 over to men’s prisons once they turn 18, having scrapped a longstanding policy in which those who turned 18 inside the juvenile centre would remain there for the duration of their sentence.

Some of the youths sent to Hakea are understood to be turning 18 soon. In the meantime, according to a family member of one of the boys, they will be kept within Hakea’s crisis care unit.

One of the family members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the sentencing judge had cited the current conditions within Banksia Hill and Unit 18

in making his decision to send them to Hakea. The youths, the family member said, were told they would have better access to services inside Hakea than they would within the juvenile centres.

Aboriginal activist Megan Krakouer, who is director of the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, said sending juveniles to Hakea was a poor reflection on the state of Banksia Hill and Unit 18.

“Why does a magistrate think that it’s in [the juveniles’] best interest to send them to an adult facility? That basically is a failure of Banksia Hill,” she said.

WA’s handling of juvenile offenders has been under intense scrutiny in recent months.

The Australian last week revealed that the rate of self-harm and suicide attempts inside Unit 18 – which was established last year as a temporary centre for Banksia Hill detainees who were deemed to be particularly disruptive – had spiked to record high levels in recent months. That increase coincided with a drop in the average out-of-cell hours for the Unit 18 detainees, with figures showing that they averaged just over 90 minutes a day out of their cell during May.

WA’s Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services this month released a scathing report into the state of Banksia Hill and Unit 18, finding that the juvenile detention system was in an “acute crisis”.

There have also been major disturbances at both centres in recent months, most notably a riot at Banksia Hill that caused millions of dollars in damage.

New Premier Roger Cook has identified the state’s juvenile detention system as a key priority for his government, moving the corrective services portfolio from Bill Johnston to Police Minister Paul Papalia. Mr Papalia has said he had been asked by Mr Cook to focus immediately on Banksia Hill. But he has already ruled out any closure of Unit 18 in the short term.

“Unit 18 will be there for some time because we need the ability to isolate the most problematic and challenging individuals, not as a punishment but as a means of securing the rest of the 70 or 80 individuals and enabling them to receive good rehabilitation and the best prospects,” he said in parliament late last week.

“Unit 18 is the best place for them. A range of services are available for them, and some really good and dedicated people are providing them support, but it must be done in an environment that is safe.”

The latest Closing the Gap figures, released last week, showed that WA had the highest rate of Indigenous youth incarceration in Australia of 44.6 per 10,000 people compared to the national average of 28.3.