Unit 18 staff member suspended over teenager’s death in custody

Warning: this report contains the name and image of Cleveland Dodd, with his family’s permission.

An officer who was on guard at Casuarina Prison Unit 18 when Indigenous teenager Cleveland Dodd attempted to take his own life has been suspended pending an investigation.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia would not confirm whether allegations the guard was asleep during the emergency were correct, despite being asked multiple times.

Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia addressed media on Wednesday. Credit: Holly Thompson/ Supplied

“I’m not going to enter into any discussion of the incident. The whole thing is subject to a number of inquiries,” he said.

“Even the internal inquiry is not yet complete, the one which has resulted in that officer being suspended from duty. That aside, it’s subject to a WA Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry and the coroner’s inquest, so I’m not going to discuss it.”

The Department of Justice confirmed a staff member “has been suspended from duty pending the outcome of a departmental inquiry.”

At a previous press conference, Papalia said Cleveland had made contact with guards in the control room via his in-cell intercom just before 2am on October 12.

He claimed it had only been a “matter of minutes” from that moment that he was checked and found to be unresponsive.

Prison rules require a minimum of two officers to be present when opening a cell.

Cleveland is WA’s first child death in custody, and Australia’s first since 2010. He was found unresponsive in his cell by staff who provided emergency first aid until paramedics arrived. He died in hospital a week later.

On Wednesday, former WA Police assistant commissioner Brad Royce was parachuted into the role of corrective services commissioner, with Mike Reynolds abruptly shunted out of the role with little explanation.

Papalia also announced the creation of a deputy commissioner role for juveniles in detention.

“We have vastly improved conditions and delivery of services at Banksia Hill, we’ve not yet achieved that level of improvement at Unit 18 and this enables us a reset,” he said.

Opposition corrective services spokesman Peter Collier claimed Reynolds had become another scapegoat for the government.

“These guys make Fawlty Towers look like a period drama. I shake my head in disbelief with regard to Corrective Services. It’s been a slow-moving train wreck for the last two years and every time there’s a problem we have a scapegoat,” he told Radio 6PR.

“As I’ve said a couple of days ago, the problem can easily be resolved if the premier and the minister just go and look in the mirror. That’s where the problem lies.

“A change in commissioner is not going to resolve the problems in Unit 18, that facility needs to be closed.”

WA Prison Officers Union Secretary Andy Smith told 6PR much bigger changes were needed in WA’s prison system.

“We’ve seen staffing drop to such dangerous levels, and no leadership from the top to abate that,” he said.

“We’ve got a department that are only interested in the dollars.

“They’re not interested in officer safety. They’re not interested in the community safety, keeping prisoners secure. This is just the system that is imploding.”

Unit 18 was repurposed as a juvenile centre in July 2022 after a series of incidents and riots at the state’s only youth detention centre, Banksia Hill, forced the government to split the cohort into two groups.

Cleveland’s family said he was unlawfully locked in his prison cell for days on end while on remand awaiting trial.

“To the state government we say: act now, today, to prevent another young person from needlessly and tragically dying in detention,” they said.

“Future commitments, platitudes and unfulfilled promises only inflict more pain.

“To all the children detained in Banksia Hill and Unit 18, we say stay strong, look out for one another.”

Gerry Georgatos, who runs the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, said experts had been warning deaths would be the result of WA’s problems-plagued youth detention system.

Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14, Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800, for 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).