WA Premier must act on Coroner’s call to urgently close Unit 18

13 December 2024

Amnesty International Australia welcomes Coroner Philip Urquhart's provisional recommendation that Unit 18 at the Casuarina maximum security prison be shut down 'as a matter of urgency'.

The Coroner's recommendation comes after 40 days of evidence was presented to the inquest into the death of Aboriginal teenager Cleveland Dodd, who died in Unit 18 in 2023. Evidence presented to the inquest revealed that the 16 year old was kept in solitary confinement for more than 22 hours a day for more than 80% of the 93 days before he died, in breach of the UN Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Amnesty International Australia reiterates its call on the Western Australian to urgently close Unit 18 and the Banksia Hill youth detention centre, warning that the youth detention facilities pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of incarcerated children, and to create community-based programs for children that prioritise rehabilitation and diversion from offending.

"The WA government must invest in long-term solutions that address the key drivers of violence in children in consultation with their families and communities, especially the well-being and mental health of young Aboriginal kids and it can start by diverting the millions of dollars spent on maintaining the youth detention centres into Aboriginal community-led diversion programs that actually work," says Palawa Elder and Amnesty International Indigenous Rights Advisor Rodney Dillon.

"We call on Premier Roger Cook to act on the Coroner's provisional recommendation to urgently close Unit 18, to evacuate the children detained in this inhumane prison and create systems of support and rehabilitation for them in the community."

Palawa Elder and Amnesty International Indigenous Rights Advisor Rodney Dillon

"We call on Premier Roger Cook to act on the Coroner's provisional recommendation to urgently close Unit 18, to evacuate the children detained in this inhumane prison and create systems of support and rehabilitation for them in the community."

There have been more than 500 incidents of young people attempting suicide or self-harm in WA's juvenile detention centre over the past two years.

Background

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the WA government to close the Banksia Hill youth detention centre and the Unit 18 compound at Casuarina maximum security adult prison.

In January 2023, Australia missed the deadline to implement its commitments to the OPCAT convention. OPCAT was then forced to cancel its planned visit to inspect Australia's prison and detention facilities as the body was denied access to facilities for inspection.

In 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council called on Australia to immediately end its incarceration of children under 14 and condemned Australia's human rights atrocities perpetrated against children in youth detention.

In early 2018 Amnesty International called for the Intensive Support Unit at Banksia Hill to be immediately closed pending investigation, following serious allegations of abuse of young people which may amount to torture. Amnesty has consistently called for an end to the use of solitary confinement.

In December 2017, Australia ratified the OPCAT, which is designed to protect the rights, health and safety of people in any kind of detention including in prisons, youth detention centres, immigration detention, hospital, aged care and disability facilities.

In July 2017 the extreme suffering endured by children in Banksia Hill was revealed following findings from the Inspector of Custodial Services including the use of spit hoods, solitary confinement, alleged sexual assault, and soaring rates of self-harm and attempted suicide.

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