Boy in WA adult prison ‘tried to bite wrists open’

A boy inside WA’s Unit 18 juvenile detention facility tried to bite his wrists open days after psychologist appointments there were repeatedly cancelled.

WA’s maximum-security Casuarina Prison.

A boy inside Western Australia’s Unit 18 juvenile detention facility tried to bite his wrists open days after psychologist appointments there were repeatedly cancelled.

The boy, understood to be a ward of the state, was classified as requiring level-one psychological care and constant observation in the days leading up to his self-harm.

Internal emails obtained by The Australian show psychological appointments for the boy and the other most mentally vulnerable juvenile offenders inside Unit 18 had been repeatedly cancelled, with psychologists advised the cancellations were because of staffing shortages and a lack of private areas within the facility. Unit 18 is within the maximum-security Casuarina adult prison.

The emails show that staff within the facilities have told psychologists there was “basically no point” in trying to attend the scheduled appointments.

Unit 18 has housed a subset of juvenile detainees from the Banksia Hill juvenile detention centre since last year, with the unit repeatedly criticised by current and former Children’s Court justices and advocacy groups over its treatment of young offenders.

The unit was established to house detainees deemed particularly disruptive inside Banksia Hill, and has come under fire because of lengthy periods during which the children are locked down in their cells.

Unrest within the unit has grown in recent weeks, culminating in a riot earlier this month that left six guards injured.

Since then, psychologists providing services to the unit have been repeatedly told appointments with detainees have been cancelled.

On Wednesday, psychologists were informed appointments had been cancelled because of “insufficient operational staffing and lack of access to confidential psych space”.

The lack of private areas within the unit for psychological and legal counselling has been an ongoing issue within Unit 18. Earlier this year, the Children’s Court of WA issued a direction requiring all detainees to appear at court in person, due in part to difficulties in lawyers seeing their clients.

The emails also show that detainees within Unit 18 have been told that seeing a psychologist will count out-of-cell time, which has discouraged them from taking up the appointments.

On April 20, the psychologists were told that there was “basically no point” in going to Unit 18.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice told The Australian that Unit 18 was appropriately staffed, and there was a confidential psychological services room available for use during consultations. Time spent with psychologists and other services providers, he said, did not subtract from the detainees’ out-of-cell hours.

“Psychologists attend Unit 18 on a daily basis and engage with detainees to monitor their welfare, offer services and work with other staff in supporting the young people,” he said.

“Consultations with Psychological Ser­vices are voluntary. In some cases, young people are reluctant to engage in counselling for a range of reasons, including challenges in establishing trust, and refuse to see psychologists.

“Staff work to overcome these barriers.”

Levitt Robinson senior partner Dana Levitt, whose firm is leading a class action against the WA government over the treatment of children within Unit 18 and Banksia Hill, told The Australian the lack of psychological care was exacerbating issues within Unit 18.

The boy who tried to bite through his wrists is understood to have been hospitalised.

The Department of Justice spokesman said the department did not discuss individual cases.

Earlier this year, it was revealed almost 70 per cent of detainees had engaged in self-harm or attempted suicide during their time within Unit 18.