Cleveland Detention Centre staff shortages linked to lighter juvenile sentences in Queensland Courts

The Minister for Youth Justice has blamed the former government for its “system failure” after recent sentence details showed leniency on juveniles due to harsh conditions at Cleveland.

Cleveland Detention Centre staff shortages linked to lighter juvenile sentences in Queensland Courts.

Harsh conditions at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre are being considered by Queensland judges as a reason to let juvenile offenders on the streets earlier than what would otherwise be required.

Lawyers in Townsville Children’s Courts have submitted “separation reports” which outline the amount of time a child has spent locked in their rooms due to staff shortages at the detention centre.

The defence barrister for a 16-year-old boy who was declared a “serious repeat offender” in the Magistrates Court and was recently sentenced for his role in an attempted armed robbery, argued that his time had been far more challenging in detention than it needed to be due to the extensive period he was locked in his room.

Tom Hancock said the conditions at Cleveland were so harsh the boy’s sentence should be reduced from having to spend 70 per cent of his actual sentence in custody, to 50 per cent.

A separation report was submitted to the court which broke down 322 days the boy spent on remand and highlighted that on 159 of those days he spent less than three hours outside of his room, and on 84 of those days he spent no time out of his room.

“In a perfectly operating detention centre, he would’ve spent 60 hours outside of his room - he spent 10 hours and 10 minutes outside of his room,” Mr Hancock said.

“In percentage terms, a tiny bit less than 50 percent, so on any given day he’s a coin flip of getting out of his room for more than three hours.

“… it is beyond clear and so much is appropriately conceded by (the prosecution) that his time in detention had been unusually harsh through no fault of his own and it is my submission incumbent to Your Honour to moderate the sentence to account for the incredible harshness of his time on remand.”

Mr Hancock said the judge could reflect that the boy’s time in custody had been “far more arduous than it ought to have been” by reducing the detention sentence.

Judge Christopher Kahler clarified that it was not because of any incidents caused by the juvenile that he was subjected to his room to which the defence lawyer confirmed.

He said that out of the 159 days the juvenile spent less than three hours outside his room, were all due to staff shortages.

“As (the prosecutor) said, the centre has obligations around ratios,” Mr Hancock said.

“If there are insufficient staff on any given day, to have the ratio between the staff and children appropriate, the way they dealt with that is just by locking them in their room. That’s the way they dealt with that issue.”

He clarified that at night all juveniles are locked in their room for a 12 hour period, therefore the other 12 hours are what’s accounted for in the separation report.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Lowrie submitted the juvenile be released after serving 70 per cent of his sentence – however said the conditions were so “onerous” at Cleveland, it could be considered a special circumstance and his sentence be reduced.

“The case for some – well, a lot of the time, the child was on remand in the youth justice centre he was confined to his room for more than 12 hours a day,” Mr Lowrie said.

“As I understand Your Honour, during the separation, young people will have access to a multi-discipline routine, including clinicians, case workers and cultural liaison officers and a range of health services including nursing staff, on-site medical centres, phone services and visits.

“… activities and music are also provided and they have access to any staff by intercom service.”

He said the reason for the child being confined to his room was “a result of staff shortages”.

“… as a requirement of having sufficient staff ratio per child whose on remand, that ratios in place not only for the protection of staff but also for the protection of the children in the care of the youth detention centre.”

Judge Kahler agreed the extensive amount of time in his cell should be considered as special circumstances and sentenced the juvenile to 18 months detention, to be released after serving 60 per cent. No convictions were recorded.

This example has not been the only one in recent times as a 14-year-old boy was sentenced last month for breaking into an aged care facility and stealing from a disabled, elderly man.

His lawyer said the boy suffered “unusually harsh” conditions at Cleveland having spent 30 per cent of his time on remand in his room and over the course of five days spent less than two hours outside.

He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation.

In separate offending, a 15-year-old boy was sentenced for breaking into a woman’s home as she slept and stealing her car.

His lawyer told the court in the 99 days at Cleveland there had been 41 days where the boy spent less than an hour outside of his cell and for 37 of those 41 days he spent less than 15 minutes outside his cell or no time at all.

He was sentenced to two months detention. No conviction was recorded.

“Complete system failure”

Minister for Youth Justice and Victim Support Laura Gerber has said her government “inherited a complete system failure from Labor”.

“(Labor) didn’t plan for the youth detention centres needed, or the workforce to deal with the rising numbers of youth criminals,” Ms Gerber said.

“It will take time to turn around Labor’s weak laws but, already we are seeing the courts impose stronger sentences and youth crime finally starting to turn around, after 10 years of going in the opposite direction.”

Shadow Youth Minister Di Farmer said that Ms Gerber “promised the world and has delivered nothing” when it comes to address youth crime rates in Queensland.

“(She) promised that more kids would be locked up under the LNP’s tough new laws, but she can’t even keep those currently serving time in detention,” Farmer said.

“The Minister is out of her depth and has no solutions to address detention centre capacity and staffing.

“Laura Gerber hasn’t produced a workforce strategy for Cleveland Youth Detention Centre like she said she would, we’ve seen zero movement on detention with purpose, and their rolled gold early intervention plans simply don’t exist.

“The LNP only ever had a four-word slogan to fix crime and Queenslanders are now seeing right through it.”

Originally published as Cleveland Detention Centre staff shortages linked to lighter juvenile sentences in Queensland Courts