2 weeks Ago By Aaron Bunch
An Indigenous teenager has died in a troubled facility, the second person to lose their life in youth detention in less than a year. Login or signup to continue reading The death led Western Australia Premier Roger Cook to admit the youth detention system is "not good enough" and needs improving. Custodial staff found the 17-year-old boy in his cell at the Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre in Perth about 10pm on Thursday.
"This is a horrible, horrible event," Mr Cook said on Friday. "Clearly, a failure has taken place because someone has lost their life and we will now undertake the very important task of understanding the circumstances that preceded his death." Corrective Services Commissioner Brad Royce said the teenager was taken into custody at the facility on Tuesday.
"He came in intoxicated (with drugs and alcohol) ...
he went into our intensive supervision unit," he said. "In that unit, we have full monitoring and we keep an eye on young people." Mr Royce said the boy was provided with health care and clinical support.
"It was around his health and not around any mental health or self-harm issues," he said. He said the teen was checked by staff 10 times through the night. "On the 11th occasion, just prior to 10pm, he was found unresponsive," Mr Royce said.
"Sadly, we couldn't revive the young man. "I've reviewed the footage and I'm satisfied that their actions around what they're doing and the way they called for support were appropriate." Mr Cook said Banksia Hill was a "very complex and challenging environment".
"The system's not good enough. We need to continue to improve it," he said. Mr Royce said significant reforms had taken place in recent months.
"What we need to spend more time on and will take generational change is the young people themselves, because when they come to me I have very short periods with them and they come with such trauma and such history, that the challenge is significant," he said. The boy's death is the second in WA youth detention in recorded history. It follows the death of 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd in October 2023.
Cleveland died after self-harming in his cell at Unit 18, a Banksia Hill annexe site inside the adult correctional facility Casuarina Prison. His death is the subject of a coronial inquest that has heard evidence about a slew of systemic failures that preceded the incident. An internal investigation is under way into the latest death and police are preparing a report for the coroner.
Banksia Hill has been the site of numerous riots in recent years, including an incident in May 2023 that lasted more than 12 hours and involved 47 detainees, with estimates the damage bill would be about $30 million. Opposition spokesman for corrective services Peter Collier said the state's most vulnerable juveniles needed rehabilitation not punitive justice. "It's just not good enough," he said.
He called for Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia to stand down and a change of culture at Banksia Hill, including "empathetic" leadership. WA Commissioner for Children and Young People Jacqueline McGowan-Jones said the government "must do better". "I am absolutely heartbroken that this has happened again," she said.
"The state government needs to focus on the individual needs of children and young people in detention." Amnesty International has repeatedly called for the closure of the facility because conditions in it pose a "serious and unacceptable risk to the safety of detained children". 13YARN 13 92 76 Lifeline 13 11 14 Australian Associated Press DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team.
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