NQ Magistrate blasts conditions at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre

A magistrate has described the conditions of Cleveland Youth Detention Centre as the “bare minimum … acceptable in a civilised society” in a scathing critique.

A NORTH Queensland magistrate has issued a scathing critique of Cleveland Youth Detention Centre.

The blistering assessment on both the centre and the youth justice system were published in a sentencing remark of a 16-year-old.

Magistrate Eoin Mac Giolla Ri said he was concerned about the conditions at the detention centre, after the disabled teenager was confined to his cell for extended periods and unable to attend school because the facility did not have enough staff.

He said the centre was falling short of the “bare minimum … acceptable in a civilised society.”

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman with Magistrate Eoin Mac Giolla Ri.

This is the latest in a string of controversies linked to the centre after staff went to the media to blow the whistle on serious issues playing out behind the big green fence.

The centre was regularly put into ‘Night Mode’ or restricted to continuous cell occupancy (CCO) over January.

In Night Mode detainees do not leave their cells as there are not enough staff to safely do this but kids are provided with resources like colouring in, find-a-word, puzzles, literacy and numeracy activities, while on CCO teens can leave their cells for short periods on rotation but can’t leave to attend programs or school.

The 16-year-old boy has an “extensive criminal history” and was sentenced after committing three offences in late January.

An internal email attached to the Magistrate’s remarks show the centre was operating at reduced capacity for a large part of January due to “significant staff shortages.”

Just last week a spokeswoman from the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs brushed off questions from the Townsville Bulletin about staffing shortages in the centre and boasted the state had a ratio of one youth worker for every four young people, which they said was higher than in other Australian jurisdictions.

Riot

Court documents say the 16-year-old, who was given the synonym ‘Leo’, was charged with entering and attempting to unlawfully use a vehicle as well as assault causing bodily harm in January and then was hit with a further charge after spitting at a staff member while in custody at Cleveland.

He was remanded in custody on January 4 and spent multiple nights in a police watch-house before he arrived at Cleveland on January 12.

Leo, who has an intellectual disability, spent 13 days in custody isolated and mostly confined to his cell unable to attend school because of staff shortages.

During his entire time in detention Leo only attended one program due to the centre’s reduced capacity.

“It is not difficult to see from that how principles of Youth Justice are not being adhered to at

this Youth Detention Centre at the moment,” Mr Mac Giolla Ri said.

Details of Leo’s disadvantaged upbringing include his first interaction with Child Safety at the age of one due to domestic violence, substance abuse, emotional and physical harm.

The teenager still lives with his mother but is “scared of being at home”, court documents say.

He has been known to Youth Justice since 11 and has been sent to detention 19 times, spending a large portion of his young life locked up.

Cleveland Youth Detention Centre has been involved in string of controversies. PICTURE: MATT TAYLOR.

Ultimately the magistrate said while Leo’s offending would ordinarily attract a sentence of six months but ruled the trying conditions meant it was inappropriate to subject the teenager to further detention.

“But I am concerned that [this] Detention Centre is falling below the standards it ordinarily operates at, and those standards must already be seen, I would say, as the bare minimum of what might be acceptable in a civilised society, are now falling short of that.’’

“there has been ongoing periods of time where he has literally not been allowed out of his cell for 24 hours at a time and where, when he is let out, it is often … for limited times

“I have visited [this particular] Youth Detention Centre, the cells are perhaps, in the ordinary course of events, one could describe them as towards the minimum of what might be acceptable for a child, and I find the same in relation to the day area of the unit.”

The Bulletin approached Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard for comment but instead got a response from a department spokeswoman who blamed staffing issues on Covid.

“All workplaces in Queensland are dealing with the pressures created by Covid-19 – and our detention centres are no different,” they said.

Originally published as NQ Magistrate blasts conditions at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre