Unlawfully detained Cairns kid ordered out of watch house
In a landmark ruling three children, one locked up in the Cairns watch house, have been urgently relocated to a dedicated youth facility after a court found their incarceration was unlawful.
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In a landmark ruling three children, one locked up in the Cairns watch house have been urgently relocated to a dedicated youth facility after a court found their incarceration was unlawful.
The case brought by Caxton Legal Centre acting for YETI Cairns successfully challenged the legality of the three children’s detention on the grounds there was no order permitting detention in a police watch house.
And on Friday afternoon a Queensland Supreme Court justice ordered an immediate transfer of the young people into youth detention.
In the 12 months to September last year 788 children were locked up at the Cairns watch house in the release of data that confirmed the Sheridan St watch house as the busiest police lock up in the state.
On any given month last year between 50 and 80 young people were locked up in the same facility as adult prisoners, the large majority being unsentenced prisoners.
According to the Caxton Legal Centre the ruling on Friday was aimed at testing the lawfulness of the Queensland Government’s practice of holding remanded children in police watch houses for extended periods of time, rather than in youth detention centres.
Director, Human Rights and Civil Law Practice at Caxton Legal Centre Bridget Burton indicated the state government could be holding “many” children unlawfully throughout the state.
“The detention of children is extremely serious and must occur only according to law,” she said.
“The Department of Youth Justice has been overseeing the unlawful detention of these three children and potentially many other children over a substantial period of time.
“This is a serious breach of the human rights of children, and frankly quite shocking.”
The unlawful detention ruling comes amid firmed up plans for a Cairns youth detention centre in Edmonton, revealed during an estimates committee hearing on Thursday.
The 40 bed “therapeutic” centre is expected to open at an undisclosed location in 2024.
It’s understood a community forum opposing the facility has been set down for August 15.
Cairns-based YETI chief executive officer Genevieve Sinclair travelled to Brisbane to be in court this week to hear the ruling on watch house prisoners.
“If we must detain children at all, we need to do so in places where they have the chance to be rehabilitated, that means education programs, cultural support and especially contact with family, and access to disability, health and drug and alcohol treatment services,” she said.
“Our communities can’t be safe while the system is making children angrier and more disconnected.
“Inhumanely detaining children creates crime and makes us all less safe.
“This is another failure in the youth detention systems.
“It’s time for this practice to be stopped immediately and for the Queensland Government to invest in long-term solutions such as on-country programs, rehabilitation and wraparound support for families that deal with the issues these children are facing, keep them out of the criminal justice system and our communities safe.”
A full determination of the decision from the Supreme Court of Queensland is expected to be published next week.
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