Mother of boy who took his own life at Banksia Hill speaks out as lawyer reveals previous self-harm
In short:
The mother of a boy who died by suicide in juvenile detention in Perth on Thursday has released a statement saying he will be “deeply missed by his family”.
It comes as a lawyer representing hundreds of detainees in a lawsuit against the WA government reveals the boy had disclosed he had previously self-harmed whilst incarcerated.
Dana Levitt said the boy had been “failed at every turn” by authorities.
The mother of a boy who died by suicide while being held in youth detention in Western Australia says he will be deeply missed by his family, adding that the juvenile justice system in the state is “failing all youths regardless of race”.
WARNING: This story discusses incidents of self-harm. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of the person who has died.
On Thursday, the 17-year-old became the second child on record to die in youth detention in WA.
He had only been in custody at Banksia Hill Detention Centre for two days before he took his own life sometime before 10pm on Thursday night.
On Saturday, the boy’s mother released a statement to the ABC asking the media for privacy as the family grieved.
“[The boy] was a child who faced many of his own demons but he will be deeply missed by his family,” she said in the statement.
“We would like the media to respect our privacy and keep his name and images out of the media and allow us this time to grieve.”
The boy’s mother said he was not Indigenous, despite Corrective Services Commissioner Brad Royce saying he “identified as Indigenous” at a press conference on Friday.
“The system is failing all youths regardless of race with now two young lives lost,” the boy’s mother said.
“We would like to thank all those that have stood by us and more importantly who played a role in supporting him through the last few years.”
ust 10 months ago the state recorded its first child death in custody – 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd, who died after fatally self-harming in his cell in Unit 18, a youth wing inside the adult Casuarina Prison.
Unit 18 was established to house detainees from Banksia Hill considered too dangerous to manage at that facility.
The family’s statement came as the lawyer representing hundreds of detainees in legal action against the WA government revealed the boy who died at Banksia Hill had disclosed he had previously self-harmed whilst incarcerated.
Sydney law firm Levitt Robinson is representing current and former detainees in two class actions over the alleged unlawful treatment of juvenile detainees at both Unit 18 and Banksia Hill.
Principal lawyer Dana Levitt said the boy who died on Thursday had been interviewed by a member of her team last year.
“He actually reached out to us at the end of last year as he was quite motivated to be part of a class action,” she said.
“I think he saw it as a way of holding those responsible for his suffering and the conditions to which he’d been subject in detention to account.
“It was a way, I think, that he saw of making sure that he was heard and that his experiences counted.”
Ms Levitt said her colleague interviewed the boy at Unit 18 in December last year.
She said the boy reported that he had been in and out of detention for years and had a diagnosed disability.
“He’d been subject to protracted periods of lockdown and solitary confinement in both facilities and at Unit 18 particularly, and he had engaged in serious self-harm and attempted suicide,” she said.
‘Failed at every turn’
The boy had been in the care of the Department of Communities.
“The fact that he had been in and out [of custody] is certainly indicative of the lack of support that he got when he wasn’t in detention, and the lack of rehabilitative supports that he received while he was in detention,” Ms Levitt said.
“In this particular instance, the parent was the state … so the only person to point the finger at is the state and the state’s institutions.
“That is Corrective Services, it’s child protection, it’s all of those institutions and departments that are supposed to ensure the welfare of children, and they obviously failed at every turn.”
In a statement, the Department of Communities told the ABC it was unable to comment on individual children.
“The death of any child or young person is a tragedy, which has a devastating impact on the families, friends and communities involved,” a spokesman said.
“Those impacted have been offered supports through Communities.”
Commissioner Royce would also not be drawn on the boy’s personal circumstances when questioned on Friday.
“I am not going to go into his history because it is sensitive at this time. It is not appropriate,” he said.
But the commissioner did state repeatedly that he had not seen anything that suggested the boy was at risk of self-harm.
“There is nothing I have seen or from what I have read of our health review that leads me to have concern over where he was,” he said.
On Friday, Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia referred to Banksia Hill as being “vastly improved”, saying it was now better resourced and detainees had more time out of their cells.
“We as a team care deeply about the wellbeing of the young people in our care,” Mr Papalia said.
“And as I said, things are vastly improved in terms of service delivery, staffing, resourcing and out-of-cell hours.”
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