Voodoo doll ‘with pins through the heart’: Ashley manager says he was bullied at centre

The Ashley Youth Detention Centre manager has denied the facility still uses “punitive” measures to deal with residents, while also recounting an astonishing story he says occurred in his first week.

THE Ashley Youth Detention Centre manager claims that when he started working at the troubled facility, a voodoo doll was left on his monitor with “pins through the heart”.

Stuart Watson gave evidence to the child sexual abuse commission of inquiry on Tuesday, during which he responded to allegations the centre used violence, intimidation and “punitive” management techniques against detainees.

He also denied allegations that he’d bribed a former resident to “say nice things about Ashley” to the commissioners.

Mr Watson opened his evidence by saying that when he first arrived at Ashley in an assistant manager role during 2020, he felt like he was bullied and “set up to fail” – recalling an astonishing episode he said occurred during his first week on-site.

He said the acting assistant manager, Lester*, had wanted to keep the role for himself and believed he could “drive me out” – by bullying him and “white-anting” to other staff.

“He didn’t vacate the office for, I think it was four days, and when he did vacate the office he left it really dirty and grotty, and a voodoo doll hanging from the monitor with pins through the heart of the voodoo doll,” Mr Watson said.

Mr Watson said not knowing anyone, he felt at times “quite unsafe” and like “a mouse caught in a trap”.

He told the inquiry that he officially took up the role as centre manager, taking over from Patrick Ryan, in February 2021.

He said he knew Ashley was a difficult place with a “dark history”, and it would be a difficult role to work in.

However, he said that he’d taken the role “to do a good job and make a difference” and felt that largely, the youth workers “were there for the young people”.

Mr Watson said he hadn’t observed an attitude among Ashley’s staff that the detainees were “s... skids who needed to be punished”.

Stuart Watson, manager of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre.

He agreed the centre was under “considerable strain”, but said that was due to staff shortages given 14 of its 40 youth workers had been stood down “for various reasons”.

He said those staff members, who had been suspended on full pay, could return to work if they were cleared of allegations against them.

He said “punitive” measures weren’t currently used by Ashley’s youth workers, and that there was no longer a workplace culture of sexual assault or “violence and intimidation towards young people”.

“I believe that the times have changed. I think one of the key turning points for the centre was around 2000 when cameras were first introduced.”

Mr Watson said strip searches of detainees were never carried out without reason, with the young person always provided a “modesty gown” and never fully naked.

He also said he would be “extremely disappointed” if searches were conducted today in a “hands-on” fashion.

Mr Watson said the government’s announcement that Ashley would be closed “came out of the blue” – with he himself only discovering the news at the same time as it was “live on television”.

“It was terribly, terribly done,” he said.

Finally, he denied allegations by former detainee, Max*, that he’d bribed him with privileges to say “nice things about Ashley” to the commission of inquiry.

“I’m confident that I didn’t bribe or incentivise Max to provide or not provide information to the commission. I was actually pleased that residents were speaking to the commission, because it’s their voice that needs to be heard.

Ex-detainee says he was bribed to say ‘nice things about Ashley’ - August 23

A FORMER Ashley detainee says he was bribed by the centre manager not to tell the truth to the currently-sitting child sexual abuse commission of inquiry.

On Tuesday, Max* gave evidence before the inquiry, claiming he was offered privileges – like games, the chance to go off-site and that he’d be moved to a new unit – “if we said nice things about Ashley”.

Max said he suffered a brutal assault and sexual assault at the facility when he was just 12 years old, with another detainee “jumping on his head”.

He said he was “happy as” when he heard about the commission of inquiry, and that Ashley would be shut down.

“I thought it was an opportunity to tell my story,” he said.

“Then Stuart Watson, the manager, he found out what was going down and he came down and talked to me and he asked me why I’m doing it. I said ‘like I’m telling exactly what happens here, like how s … it is’.”

The gates at the Ashley Detention Centre.

Max said Mr Watson bribed him “if we said nice things about Ashley and not go there and say bad things” and say the school and staff “did good things for us”.

He said Mr Watson told him the commission didn’t “need to hear all that bulls--t, they’ve got enough going on with fake allegations as it is”.

Counsel assisting the commission, Rachel Ellyard, said Mr Watson would deny the conversation occurred and that he never told Max what to say to the commission.

Max said in a private session with the commission, he and another resident didn’t tell us what Ashley was really like – and instead told “a load of s …”.

“I just said that everything was fine there, it was the best place you could be, like it’s helped me with heaps of stuff … a little tiny bit of that was true, which was about the school, because the school’s probably the only good place in that whole thing.”

But Max said Mr Watson never made good on his promise.

“He just acted as if nothing happened, he acted like the conversation never happened,” he said.

Max said he was now telling the commission the “100 per cent truth”.

He said when he was 13, he was placed back in a unit with the boy who’d tried to rape him despite being told he would be housed with a detainee he didn’t know.

Max, desperate to escape, said he tried to attack a staff member and started screaming that the boy had tried to rape him.

He said he stayed in the unit with his attacker for a week, and “tried to smash out” the plaster ceiling so that he’d be moved to a different area.

“It was only a matter of time before it happened again, that’s the way I saw it,” he said.

Max also said he was subjected to brutal strip searches and cavity searches, with multiple guards bashing him during the process.

He said he was frequently bashed by staff in areas where there were no cameras, and was told by guards that “we can do whatever the f … we want”.

Max said in terms of the two new centres slated for the north and south, there needed to be cameras everywhere.

“If there’s no cameras in some spots … I can say 100 per cent that new staff are gonna be like the old staff,” he said.

“If a complaint gets made, there’s all the evidence right there.”

He also said the centres needed all new staff.

“If you have the same staff, then it’s going to be the same outcome, that’s the way I see it,” he said.

Max also said complaints by residents needed to be taken more seriously.

“Even though it might only be little things, they still need to be looked at because there’s most likely a lot more going on than what gets written down on a piece of paper.”

Former Ashley manager does not front inquiry over ill health - August 23

THE former operations manager of Ashley Youth Detention Centre, Patrick Ryan, did not front the child sexual abuse commission of inquiry on Tuesday as expected.

Instead, as explained by counsel assisting the commission, Rachel Ellyard, Mr Ryan was “medically unfit” to appear.

Mr Ryan, a former Tasmania Police senior sergeant, was appointed to the role in 2017.

News Corp reported at the time that Mr Ryan was seen as a “no-nonsense, experienced and trusted policeman with a flair for management”.

His appointment was seen by some as a “welcome move” away from the “therapeutic approach”, which was seen as having failed, and towards tighter discipline.

The current manager of the facility is Stuart Watson.

Government defends timeline for closing ‘house of horrors’ - August 23

THE “house of horrors” at Ashley Youth Detention Centre must be closed as soon as possible, the Greens say.

Parliament has heard that the government remains committed to closing the troubled detention centre, but progress towards the 2024 deadline has been slow.

A reform steering committee has been appointed and an discussion paper is on the way.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the evidence of extreme violence and sexual abuse perpetrated against youth at the centre heard by the Commission of Inquiry in recent days required an urgent response.

Amnesty International and the United Nations Children’s agency UNICEF have called for the youth prison to shut immediately.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff speaks to the media at the University of Tasmania's Sandy Bay campus on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff told parliament the plan to close Ashley must not be rushed.

“I understand the calls for closing the Ashley Youth Detention Centre now,” he said.

“We have a plan in place to close Ashley and replace it with contemporary therapeutic facilities.

“It is important that we invest in the time to get this right, given the failures that they have highlighted.

“Appropriate care of these young people is not about bricks and mortar — it is also about having the right models of care and contemporary therapeutic approaches through the entire youth justice system.”

Minister for Education, Children and Youth Roger Jaensch said achieving the desired reforms was multifaceted and required careful consideration.

“We’re looking at bail and accommodation support options,” he said.

“We’re looking at new community-based sentencing options, and we have already committed to raising the minimum age of detention from 10 to 14 years.

“We’re also considering options for co-location of detention facilities and other related youth services such as alcohol and drug treatment and mental health.”

Greens leader Cassy O'Connor speaks to the media on Parliament Lawns on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.

Ms O’Connor was not impressed and accused the government of “dithering”

“We gave the premier and the Minister an opportunity to provide a meaningful update to the house on progress towards the closure of the Ashley Youth Detention Center,” she said.

“In recent days there have been witnesses come before the Commission of Inquiry who somehow have survived that place.

“They’ve been whistleblowers who worked at Ashley who’ve come forward with utterly harrowing stories.

“We heard about staff who stood by and watched while a vulnerable child was beaten senseless. We have heard evidence of other staff who have enabled and covered up the violent sexual assaults of children by older detainees.”

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Originally published as Voodoo doll ‘with pins through the heart’: Ashley manager says he was bullied at centre