Two children locked up in Caboolture Watch House for weeks

Two children have been held on remand for more than two weeks in a southeast Queensland watch house.

The Caboolture Watch House, where two children have been held on remand for more than two weeks.

Two children have been held on remand for more than two weeks in a southeast Queensland watch house, adding to youth ­advocates’ concerns not enough is being done to address the root cause of youth offending.

One child had been held for 18 days at the Caboolture Watch House as of Friday, while another was still on remand after 16 days in custody as of 9am Sunday, according to published police data.

Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak chief executive Garth Morgan said such stories were becoming normalised.

It comes after Premier David Crisafulli implemented his signature Making Queensland Safer laws in December, which mandate that juveniles who commit crimes such as murder, manslaughter and home invasions are sentenced as adults, and “removes detention as a last resort” for juvenile ­offenders.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli and Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie spruik their 100 days of results on Sunday. Picture Lachie Millard

Queensland’s Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes said youth offending peaked in summer, which could slow down processing in corrective services. However, she said it was disgraceful children were being held in poor conditions.

“We’re a rich state, we’ve got a lot of revenue, yet so many kids are just living in appalling circumstances,” she said.

In the 149 days from August 16 to February 7, children spent a cumulative 1185 nights in the Caboolture Watch House, according to published police data. The median number of juveniles staying each night was seven.

On Sunday, more than half of all children on remand in Queensland were at Caboolture. Of the 21 children held, two were girls, nine were Indigenous, and eight had been on remand for more than seven days.