Kids in solitary for safety, says Minister after ‘torture’ claims

The government has defended the practice of keeping detainees in solitary confinement despite serious concerns raised by a United Nations Committee.

Ashley Youth Detention Centre near Westbury in northern Tasmania.

CHILDREN were only kept in solitary confinement at Ashley Youth Detention Centre for their own safety, the government says.

A United Nations Committee Against Torture report released over the weekend noted it was “seriously concerned about … the practice of keeping children in solitary confinement, in particular at the Banksia Hill youth detention centre in Western Australia, Don Dale youth detention centre in the Northern Territory and the Ashley youth detention centre in Tasmania, which contravenes the Convention and the Nelson Mandela Rules.”

Minister for Education, Children and youth Roger Jaensch said the government had undertaken a series of steps “to ensure the young people of Ashley are safe while we plan and deliver the new facilities and the new model of care they will move into,” he said.

“The practise of our young people spending longer than desirable times in their rooms is all about their safety.

“We have fluctuating numbers of staff and detainees at Ashley, we need to maintain a safe ratio at any particular time when they’re out of their rooms.

“We will keep doing it and maintaining it day by day to make sure we’re maintaining those safe standards.

Ashley Youth Detention Centre near Westbury in northern Tasmania.

“We’re confident we are providing the best care we can.”

Labor’s child safety spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said the torture findings on Ashley could not be ignored

“A United Nations Committee’s findings that the Ashley Youth Detention Centre continues to break international anti-torture conventions underlines the urgent need for a better approach to youth justice.

“The Committee against Torture has named Ashley, along with two other Australian youth justice facilities, as contravening the UN Convention against Torture and the Nelson Mandela Rules, which prohibit the use of solitary confinement for children.

“This is a horrifying situation for the broader community – as well as being deeply distressing for those connected to Ashley.

“The Liberal government has refused for years to take its responsibility to young Tasmanians in Ashley seriously, leading to chronic underfunding and unsafe staffing levels.”

Bombshell report reveals Ashley still breaching torture code

THE treatment of children locked up at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre continues to breach international anti-torture conventions, a United Nations Committee has found.

The Committee Against Torture has been looking into jails and youth detention centres in Australia to determine compliance with international human rights treaties, including the United Nations Convention Against Torture, to which Australia is a signatory.

The Committee report has included Ashley with the worst of the nation’s youth justice facilities because children are being locked down for up to 23 hours a day for two weeks at a time.

“The Committee is seriously concerned about … the practice of keeping children in solitary confinement, in particular at the Banksia Hill youth detention centre in Western Australia, Don Dale youth detention centre in the Northern Territory and the Ashley youth detention centre in Tasmania, which contravenes the Convention and the Nelson Mandela Rules.”

The Nelson Mandela Rules, also known as the The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, prohibit the use of solitary confinement in the case of children.

The state government last week announced the Ashley Youth Detention Centre would be replaced by five purpose-built facilities around the state.

Ashley Youth Detention Centre near Westbury in northern Tasmania.

Education, Children and Youth Minister Roger Jaensch on Tuesday released plans for the replacement in state parliament on Tuesday as part of the government’s new draft Youth Justice Blueprint.

Ashley will be replaced by a detention/remand centre in the state’s south; two assisted bail facilities, one in the north or northwest and one in the south; as well as two supported residential facilities, one in the north or northwest of the state and one in the south.

The state’s new northern prison for adult offenders will be built on the Ashley site.

Treatment of young people at the centre has been a key focus of Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings.

26TEN working to improve adult literacy and numeracy in Tasmania, Roger Jaensch MP at Libraries Tasmania. Picture: Chris Kidd

Earlier this month Australian Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay told the Committee against Torture review in Geneva in hearings earlier this month.

“A Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings is currently underway, and has heard horrific evidence about a historical culture of violence and sexual abuse at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, which is the only youth detention facility in Tasmania,” she told the Committee.

“While the recent announcement by the Tasmanian government that they will close the Ashley Youth Detention Centre by the end of 2024 is to be commended, in our view it does not address the immediate need to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those currently detained,” she said.

“We are concerned, for example, about the continued use of lockdowns at the Centre to address staffing shortages.

“In July 2022 staffing shortages led to a two-week lockdown being instituted that forced youth detainees to be shut in their rooms for up to 23 hours a day, and only let out on a rotational 40-minute basis. Further lockdowns have occurred since.”

The state government has resisted calls to speed up the closure of the AYDC.

Originally published as Kids in solitary for safety, says Minister after ‘torture’ claims