Outcry grows over strip searches of minors with calls to end ‘state-sanctioned physical abuse’

Lawyers and indigenous representatives have again called for an end to the “manhandling of children” in custody after it was revealed just how many minors were strip searched last year. SEE THE FIGURES

Hobart Reception Prison. Picture: File

LAWYERS and indigenous representatives have again called for an end to the “manhandling of children” in custody after it was revealed 218 minors were strip searched last year.

Three children aged 11 were the youngest among the hundreds of minors subject to strip searches in adult prisons during the 2018 calendar year, according to a Right to Information document released by the Justice Department.

Tasmania Prison Service custodial officers searched 135 minors at the Hobart Reception Prison and 83 at the Launceston Reception Prison.

AMNESTY LASHES DEPARTMENT OVER STRIP SEARCH DATA

Indigenous juveniles accounted for 27.5 per cent of children strip searched, a figure Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania chairman Michael Mansell described as “shocking”.

“Strip searches should be banned in this day and age,” he said. “Unless a very good reason is provided by police, there will continue to be a feeling that we are being targeted and discriminated against for no real reason.”

The records do not include strip searches conducted by Tasmania Police or the Ashley Youth Detention Centre.

The alarming statistics come after the Mercury last month revealed an 11-year-old boy with “reportedly poor behaviour” was strip searched and locked in a cell at the Hobart Remand Centre after being fake-arrested by an off-duty police officer on January 14.

Greg Barns said the practice “amounts to nothing more than state-sanctioned physical abuse”. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

Barrister Greg Barns, who is the Prisoners Legal Service chairman and a criminal justice spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance, labelled strip searches “state-sanctioned physical abuse”.

The number of minors by age subject to a strip search at the Launceston Reception Prison and Hobart Reception Prison during the 2018 calendar year: Age 11: 3 Age 12: 6 Age 13: 37 Age 14: 32 Age 15: 48 Age 16: 54 Age 17: 37 Age not recorded: 1

“It’s barbaric and yet another example of the fact that Tasmania is at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to human rights,” Mr Barns said.

“There is no need for manhandling of children in the 21st century.”

FURY GROWS OVER BOY’S STRIP SEARCH BY POLICE

The Justice Department on Friday night confirmed it was currently reviewing its procedures regarding strip searches and “balancing the security and self-harm risks with the dignity and wellbeing of minors”.

“The review is ongoing and any changes will be adopted as soon as practicable,” a spokeswoman said.

The Directors Standing Order includes provisions requiring strip searches be conducted by a person of the same gender as the detainee and ensure a detainee is never completely naked.

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