Report shows an increase in the number of young people at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre

In the past financial year there was an increase in the number of young people locked up at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre. Here’s a look at the numbers.

An anonymous man who spent time at the AYDC. Picture: Chris Kidd

The state government continues to make changes to the Ashley Youth Detention Centre (AYDC) but, despite promises of its closure, the number of children in youth detention in Tasmania last financial year rose.

According to the annual report for the Department for Education, Children and Young People, the number of young people in youth detention was 77 in the 2023-24 period.

It is an increase of 19 upon the previous year’s figures. In the 2021-22 period, the number was 43.

The figures do not include young people aged 18 or over, meaning those who turned 18 while in custody are not counted.

Ashley Youth Detention Centre. Picture: Alex Treacy

The average number of young people in youth detention on a given day was 16.3, an increase from the previous year, which was 13.6 youths. In the 2021-22 period that number was 9.1.

Meanwhile, in the department’s list of ongoing major capital projects ongoing for the year, new youth justice facilities to replace the Ashley centre, were not due to be complete until 2027.

Last year the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s responses to child sexual abuse in institutional settings recommended the detention centre be closed as a matter of urgency after it was found decades of “systematic harm and abuse” against young people occurred there.

Ashley Youth Detention Centre. Picture: Chris Kidd

The estimated total cost is expected to be $50m, and so far only $230,000 has been spent, according to the report.

Three years ago former premier Peter Gutwein announced the detention centre would close within three years, providing an initial closure date of 2024. The centre is still operating and the revised target is now 2026.

In August, Tasmania’s Minister for Children and Youth Roger Jaensch admitted the state government’s second deadline for closing the notorious centre may not be met, despite the timeline already having been extended once before.

The report also listed a number of changes to facilities at AYDC, including a new body scanner, which will be used instead of physical searches of young people to improve safety.

New bodywork cameras have also been introduced on a trial basis to “improve transparency around interactions and incidents”, and more cameras have been installed to cover black spots at the centre.

Originally published as Report shows an increase in the number of young people at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre