Reformed youth offender opens up about his life in detention as Queensland Goverment passes Adult Crime, Adult Time

Jayden Summerfield spent the majority of his teen years in detention, preferring a cell over his home. It was an attitude shared by most of his fellow inmates who he said would not be scared by the LNP’s tough on crime approach.

Jayden Summerfield, 19, spent more than four years in youth detention for robberies, stealing cars and burglary. He said juvenile offenders will not be deterred by the LNP's Adult Crime, Adult Time approach. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Jayden Summerfield was 11 years old when he committed his first crime, and by 13 he had been locked up for stealing cars.

He graduated to ever more serious offences and served back-to-back stints in youth detention in an all-too-familiar cycle.

Within hours of his release he would be on the street, breaking into homes, stealing cars and causing heartache across southern Queensland.

“Every section I was moved to would have a bunch of kids who would say this is their last time inside and when they get out they want to change, but there are some kids who say, ‘I don’t care, I am coming back in’,” he said

“I was one of those kids.

“That’s because they don’t want to be home or they just don’t like outside.”

Jayden, now 19, was one of the serious, repeat offenders that were targeted by a suite of changes to the Youth Justice Act under the new LNP Queensland government.

The changes will require magistrates to treat hardened youth offenders as adults when sentencing time to one of 15 serious crimes – from aggravated unlawful use of a vehicle, to robbery, manslaughter and murder.

The intention is for these offenders to spend more time in detention, to give them what Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said every day of the 2024 election – consequences for actions.

Stakeholders ranging from the Queensland Bar Association, the Queensland Law Society, to QCOSS, the Queensland Human Rights Commissioner, and the state’s Victims’ Commissioner have all warned the laws could make the state less safe.

But as someone who spent most of his teen years in detention, Jayden said the length of the sentence was irrelevant.

For Jayden, detention brought stability and comfort. He attended school and had a place to kick back with his mates, gamble on football games and play ping pong.

“When I was a kid, the household was chaos, there was domestic violence and drugs, I hated it there,” Jayden said.

“My dad was in jail and my mum was too, she was out for a while but not in a good place, neither was her man.

“That’s why I liked juvi and most of the time when I got out I would be back in a week or a couple of days.”

Jayden would look for cars to steal and use them to break into homes and businesses looking for cash to buy food and drugs sometimes in a group, but often by himself.

Most of the time he was intoxicated and now has little memory of what he did, and who he hurt.

“When I saw baby seats in the cars I stole I would have some remorse, I would take the baby seats out and leave them close to the home,” he said.

“I did have some heart in me back then.”

Jayden Summerfield, 19 said that at the height of his offending he preferred to be in detention than at home or on the streets. Picture: Kevin Farmer

In the haze of his offending, Jayden never thought he would change and often mocked his Youth Justice case workers or the police for suggesting he get his life straight.

It wasn’t until he had a chance meeting with a Bridgeman chief executive Adam Sarota who was visiting the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre.

He offered Jayden a job at his engineering works in Toowoomba, while Jen Shaw from Emerge provided the then 17-year-old a place to live.

Together they opened the door to a life away from crime and drugs.

Jayden said that if the government was serious about stopping youth crime it would pour money into organisations like Emerge that support young people as soon as they leave detention.

“That’s how I stopped crime,” he said.

“I am from Chinchilla and lived in Roma and every time I got out I would go back to the same situation and same mindset, straight to where I started.

“It was all I knew, I couldn’t picture myself changing and I think that is the problem with most kids in detention.”

In the LNP’s defence it has also pledged to implement a gold standard early intervention program that includes paying people to become foster carers and supporting offenders for 12 months after detention, with wraparound social services, education, training and personalised support.

Today Jayden has spent more than a year out of trouble, he’s now working as a boilermaker labourer and one day wants to go back into the youth detention system – as a social worker.

Jayden said any help to break the cycle was welcome.

“You need to change your environment and I was sick of living that life,” he sai.

“Emerge got me away from all of that.

“Doing the time doesn’t stop you from doing the crime, it just makes you a better criminal.”

Originally published as Reformed youth offender opens up about his life in detention as Queensland Goverment passes Adult Crime, Adult Time