Qld watch houses: Prisoners held for weeks as jails at capacity

Watch houses are being overrun by prisoners meant to be transferred to corrective facilities and staying for as long as 21 days.

Youth Advocacy Centre CEO Katherine Hayes

Watch houses are being overrun by prisoners meant to be transferred to corrective facilities and staying for as long as 21 days.

Advocates say the system is failing and more needs to be done to ensure watch houses don’t become an “overflow capacity” for the state’s jails.

It comes after a damning review conducted by the Queensland Police Union found 62 watch houses, which held juveniles and adults, were found to be overcrowded, dangerously understaffed or critically unsafe.

The report revealed prisoners were forced to wait between 14 and 21 days to be sent to one of the state’s prisons, and at one point made up 80 per cent of Ipswich watch house’s capacity.

Youth Advocacy Centre CEO Katherine Hayes said it was concerning the facilities were being used to house prisoners.

“The whole intention of watch houses is to only hold anybody for 24 to 48 hours,” Ms Hayes said.

“So the fact that watch houses are being used to hold kids still for days a number of days, and adults for a longer period of time. Is shows the system is failing.”

Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall said watch houses were designed for people to be processed.

“It’s completely inappropriate that’s its being used effectively to house prisoners, both adults and children,” he said.

Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall

The report raised concerns that these extensive length of stays and QPS staff completing transport to and from Corrective Service facilities placed an unfair burden on watch house staff.

Criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy said watch houses were being used as an “overflow capacity” for prisoners who were being turned away from the state’s overcrowded prisons.

“If police are arresting people who are a danger to the public and the watch is at capacity, they’re going to have to accept them, you just can’t turn the prisoners away and go ... we can’t fit you,” he said.

“So you run the risk of the watch houses becoming over capacity, and then that presents dangers to the watch house officers.”

Advocates have also raised concerns over the government using the Caboolture watch house to hold youth offenders, despite previously saying it would be used as a detention facility until the Wacol Youth Centre was operational.

In the latest state budget the government provided increased funding of $9m in 2025-26 and $463,000 each year until 2028-29 to provide temporary accommodation for young people at Caboolture watch house through to December 31,2025.

It is understood this would continue as operations transition to the Wacol facility, which opened earlier this year.

Youth Justice and Corrective Services Minister Laura Gerber said the government was investing $2.3bn to rapidly build more prison capacity at Brisbane’s Arthur Gorrie and Townsville.

Originally published as Qld watch houses: Prisoners held for weeks as jails at capacity