Top WA official hires lawyer following Cleveland Dodd inquest revelations

A West Australian deputy corrections commissioner has hired a lawyer following damning evidence at the inquest for an Indigenous boy who fatally self-harmed in custody.

Cleveland Dodd was found unresponsive inside a cell in the youth wing of a high-security adult prison in the early hours of October 12, 2023.

The 16-year-old was taken to hospital in a critical condition and died a week later, causing outrage and grief in the community.

The Perth inquest into his death had been told Casuarina Prison’s Unit 18 was established with little planning in July 2022, as the agency struggled to cope with a small, disruptive cohort of young detainees at Banksia Hill Youth Detention Facility.

Former Department of Justice director general Adam Tomison has repeatedly linked Deputy Commissioner Christine Ginbey to the unit, including a ministerial document he agreed contained “grievous” and “blatant” lies.

On Monday, Coroner Philip Urquhart granted Ginbey’s application to be represented by a dedicated lawyer when she gives evidence instead of the justice department’s legal team.

“It’s clear that Counsel Assisting (Anthony Crocker) intends to impugn Deputy Commissioner Ginbey’s conduct when she is examined and to put to her profoundly serious allegations,” lawyer David Leigh said when he made the application on her behalf.

Ginbey briefly appeared as a witness last week after the coroner demanded she face the court to answer questions over a slew of late evidence provided to the inquest.

During the hearing, Urquhart cautioned her to be truthful as she struggled to provide answers to Crocker’s questions.

The inquest has heard the minister was told Unit 18 would have a full suite of services available for detainees, including therapeutic programs, cultural support, dedicated health services, education and recreation.

In reality, it had few of these and detainees were held in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours per day, often in cells that did not have running water.

The youth detainees sent to the unit were given little notice about the move, with Tomison telling the inquest those selected were deemed disruptive.

“No one wanted to do it. It wasn’t our first choice of action,” he said.

Tomison said the department believed the youth detainees sent to Unit 18 would be “better off” and they were told that if their behaviour improved they would be returned to Banksia Hill.

“There was a lot of disruption going on, a lot of serious and critical incidents occurring … these young males, the feeling was … they needed to be off-site managed at a secure facility,” he said.

Staff shortages have also been an ongoing issue for the department, with Tomison agreeing the situation was dire by 2023.

When Cleveland died, only 56 and 58 per cent of senior officer and unit manager roles were filled, respectively, and 31 per cent of youth custodial positions were vacant.

The inquest continues.

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AAP