A coroner wants Unit 18 shut ‘urgently’. Roger Cook says it’s ‘the best solution we have at the moment’

He said that the failings that existed in Unit 18 “largely rests with the department”.

The coroner made 19 recommendations, some of which he said, if implemented, would “dramatically change the landscape of how youth justice operates in the state” but claimed these did not have the department’s support.

Those recommendations included that a forum be established to consider whether youth justice should remain the Department of Justice’s responsibility.

“A primary reason why I have made this recommendation is that Western Australia remains the only jurisdiction in Australia that has its Corrective Services agency solely managing youth justice,” he said.

“I remain unconvinced this is the best option.”

Urquhart also recommended that “the manner in which Unit 18 came to be the state’s second youth detention centre should be the subject of an inquiry”, adding that the inquiry would have the power to make findings that the court was “precluded from making”.

Urquhart also made findings against eight employees of the department.

‘We will close it as soon as it’s safe’: WA premier

After the coroner’s findings were handed down on Monday, Cook said the facility would not be closed immediately, calling Unit 18 “the best solution we have at the moment”.

“We will close it as soon as it’s safe and that there’s an alternative facility for those detainees to go to,” he said.

“We’re already in the market with $158 million budgeted for the construction of an alternative facility on the site of Banksia Hill.

“That’s an important part of what we’re doing. These projects are notoriously hard to get moving, but we want to make sure that gets built as quickly as possible.”

However, part of Urquhart’s findings included two separate recommendations that “will be relevant if the decision to close Unit 18 as a matter of urgency is not made”, including that there should be a trial period to see if the newly refurbished and reinforced Banksia Hill facility was capable of managing the children who would otherwise be sent to Unit 18.

That recommendation also includes that the operation of Unit 18 be suspended for a fixed period while the trial period is under way.

The second alternative recommendation is that Unit 18 remains open but that a date for its closure is announced “to drive the construction of the yet-to-be-built youth detention centre”.

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None of these alternative recommendations were endorsed by the premier.

“I’m confident that we’ve made significant changes to the way we run our youth detention centres in Western Australia,” Cook said.

“We’ve not only seen strategic change, we’re seeing cultural change, and that’s been acknowledged by a number of people and stakeholders across the sector.”

Following the release of the findings, Greens leader Brad Pettitt asked: “What will it take for [Corrective Services Minister Paul] Papalia or Premier Cook to listen?”

“The WA Labor government has completely lost sight of their role in rehabilitating and investing in young people who unfortunately interact with the justice system and as a result two young people have died,” he said.

“Jailing is failing. If the WA Labor government does not immediately announce a plan to close Unit 18 then they will continue to fail the young people in their care.”

‘Alarming, unexpected and confronting’

While delivering his findings on Monday, Urquhart said the “harrowing” evidence he heard about Cleveland’s last days was some of the “saddest I have presided over”, adding that “we need to do better as a community”.

“It is an immense tragedy when a child makes a decision to end their life,” he said.

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“That tragedy is magnified if the child dies when they are in the state’s care and when their death had been predicted by people eminently qualified to sound that warning.

“And when the child’s death occurs by suicide in a unit built to house adult prisoners within the grounds of a maximum-security jail and after that child has repeatedly said to those tasked with his care what he was going to do, it raises the question, ‘How was this allowed to happen?’.”

Urquhart said the evidence he heard about the conditions children were being held in at Unit 18 was “alarming, unexpected and confronting”.

He said those who worked there spoke of it being chaotic, dangerous and “like a war zone” and their work was traumatic and soul-destroying.

“The cells were described as being ‘unlivable’,” Urquhart said.

“This sort of incarceration is reminiscent of 19th century jails.”

Urquhart said there were “serious deficiencies” in the way young people were treated in detention.

“It must be remembered that the misbehaviour of young people when in detention is often a symptom of the neurological impairments they have suffered for much, if not their entire, lives,” he said.

“Their misbehaviour is also a symptom of the deficiencies that exist within youth justice in this State; for the most part, their misbehaviour is not the cause of those deficiencies.”

Lifeline 13 11 14, Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800.

For 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).

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