Banksia Hill ‘riot was retaliation for guard’s abuse’

WA’s prison watchdog will inspect the state’s controversial youth detention facility this week, amid suggestions that a New Year’s Eve riot was the result of ‘retaliation’ against a prison guard.

Western Australia’s prison watchdog will inspect the state’s controversial youth detention facility this week, amid suggestions that a New Year’s Eve riot was the result of “retaliation” against a prison guard.

Eamon Ryan, WA’s inspector of custodial services, told The Australian that he and colleagues from his office would visit Banksia Hill in the coming days.

Some 22 juvenile prisoners at Banksia Hill commandeered riot squad weapons, handcuffs and other gear, set fire to buildings and then climbed a perimeter fence to watch New Year’s Eve fireworks after guards lost control of the jail on Saturday.

The Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services has held deep concerns about the state of Banksia Hill for several years and was scheduled to carry out a full-scale inspection early next month.

“We’ve decided that we will go and have a look this week, and just make an assessment whether there’s anything that we need to do between now and the visit that’s been planned for a weekend in February,” he said.

He said he was worried by the lack of progress being made in ­improving a facility that was in “crisis”. “It is the only facility that I lose sleep over,” Mr Ryan said. “I’ve been concerned about Banksia now for coming on 18 months. We did our inspection this time last year. This time last year, we ­issued the department a show-cause notice and it’s probably deteriorated a little bit since then.”

Mr Ryan said that he did not know at this stage what had sparked the riot.

But Desmond Blurton, a Noongar man and former prison guard, who is now the chairman of the Deaths in Custody Watch Committee, said he had heard a report that the unrest was in response to alleged mistreatment of an inmate by a guard.

“Seamus Doherty, my comrade, spoke to the parent of one of the detainees who was on the rooftop,” Mr Blurton said.

“He told his mum that he was provoked into retaliating to one of the officer’s abuse.”

He said the government needed to stop the use of lockdowns in the prison – which currently sees juveniles locked in their cells for up to 23 hours a day – and meet with Indigenous elders to discuss the situation.

Damage at Banksia Hill Detention Centre.

“When in prison, the kids are isolated during shutdown. It is ­inhumane and torture to treat adolescent kids this way.”

Mr Ryan said that he had not heard any suggestions that the riot was an act of retaliation against the guards.

He noted that the facility had a long history of similar incidents, most notably a 2017 incident that caused almost $2m of damage.

“We’ve produced almost one report every year for the past 10 years, and it’s the same things – staffing, lockdowns, lack of availability for recreation and education, the lack of a trauma-informed model of care, a staffing group in crisis, and a complex ­cohort of detainees,” he said.

“What we’re seeing now is probably as bad as it’s ever been, if not worse, but it’s nothing new,” Mr Ryan said.

Saturday’s incident involved a small group of boys breaking into a transportable cabin used to store the equipment of the resident riot squad. The group got into “emergency response bags” and were seen wearing riot gear and brandishing what looked like metal poles.

Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston on Sunday said the group threatened guards before burning down the cabin and setting fire to a classroom.

The fire destroyed the entire education block.

Scrutiny around WA’s handling of juvenile detainees – who are overwhelmingly Indigenous – has intensified in recent years after Banksia Hill’s most “challenging” children were sent to an adult jail.