Hog-ties, use of dogs for discipline to be banned in Queensland youth detention changes

Almost two decades after an investigation revealed failures in Queensland's youth detention system, several of those issues still remain, a damning report has revealed.

The Independent Review of Youth Detention was ordered by Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath in August, a month after a royal commission was ordered in the Northern Territory following the airing of footage and allegations of mistreatment of children in youth detention.

CCTV images appear to show a teenager with ankle-cuffs being held down at the Townsville centre.

It is one of three reports released by the Palaszczuk government on Wednesday, the others being the government's response to the independent review, and the Office of the Chief Inspector's report into the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre riot in November.

The independent review also followed footage and allegations of excessive force at the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville and an Amnesty International report into the treatment of young people at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre and at Cleveland.

Large parts of the report, including names and photographs, were redacted.Credit: Felicity Caldwell

It also looked at the treatment of the use of force, separation, restraints and monitoring of 17-year-old prisoners in adult jails.

The government accepted all 83 recommendations of the report, also pointing out that reforms had been made since the incidents in 2013, 2014 and early 2015, which were reported in the media.

But disturbingly, the report's writers say it was "grieving" to note that the Forde Inquiry report from 1999 identified "a number of similar issues".

"The fact that previously identified issues remained unresolved, in 2016, may have exacerbated publicly expressed concern," they write.

More pages of the report, with much information classified.Credit: Felicity Caldwell

The government accepted recommendations including non-police style uniforms for staff, consistent standards regarding access to clocks, information sharing between centres, visits from people from their community for Indigenous youth transferred from remote areas, and access to programs should be restricted on a punitive basis.

Corrective services staff will be counselled and retrained on where it is appropriate to use force and restraints.

Staff will be banned from "hog-tying" young people.

It also recommends adequate funding and staffing to respond to the needs of 17-year-olds being transferred to youth detention in the next 12 months.

And that the Youth Detention Inspectorate and Office of the Chief Inspector be replaced with an independent statutory Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services, similar to Western Australia.

Officers have been trialling body cameras and they may be considered to ensure there are records of incidents where there is limited CCTV.

Security dogs will not be used in youth detention as a way to respond to incidents or discipline young people and food provided while a young person is in a separation room should be recorded.

Parts of the report have been redacted, including names and photos.

Report into the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre riot on November 10, 2016

On November 10, 20 young people gained control of the youth detention centre for more than 12 hours, and damaged property and injured staff.

It started with a violent demonstration in an accommodation unit, followed by a large group of young people running from the oval throughout the centre and led to a rooftop incident that lasted more than two hours and escalated to a riot that required a large police group to contain.

A report into the incident, released on Wednesday, found that police involvement when young people took to the roof, arming themselves with makeshift weapons and making threats, along with an insufficient number of staff to restrain the young people involved, would have supported a safer and quicker resolution.

When the radio broadcast of the riot was initially called, the youth were dispersed throughout the grounds, armed with weapons and "actively using them against staff".

Despite these risks being communicated to the centre director, who later resigned, the police were not called.

"Determination to contact the QPS was made by the centre director following ongoing reports of incident escalation including injuries to staff and notification of staff retreating to the visits building... [which] resulted in significant delays in containing and resolving the riot," the report reads.

There was also not enough protective equipment, there were weaknesses in the systems at the centre and the incidents were not managed with full compliance to procedures."

It also reveals there was information at the time of the riot to indicate that "a number of" the young people allowed to play on the football team posed an unacceptable and imminent risk of harm to others.

But that high level of risk was not adequately identified or mitigated in planning for the game.

The operational plan did not contain enough information to provide clear direction to staff about how to manage the event and who had the authority to cancel it if an incident occurred.

When late changes were made to the football game, including some people not being allowed to play, the operational plan was not updated. And also, staff did not follow the plan.

Advising the young people who were not allowed to play just prior to the football game resulted in "two high-risk activities" at the same time.

However, it found the decision to cancel the football game was appropriate.

The report made six recommendations, including a whole of centre safety and security review of infrastructure, fittings and fixtures to evaluate and fix hazards.