Human rights advocate slams Ashley Youth Detention Centre during Tassie prisons inquiry

“I am very, very deeply distressed and upset by what is happening at Ashley”: A human rights advocate has slammed our youth detention centre during an inquiry into Tasmania’s prison system.

A Legislative Council inquiry into Tasmanian adult imprisonment and youth detention.

A human rights advocate has slammed the troubled Ashley Youth Detention Centre and its treatment of young people as “a stain” on Tasmania.

Academic Val Kitchener, who heads a Tasmanian response to the United Nations convention against torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said the problems at Ashley were “a direct contravention” on the rights of young detainees.

On Wednesday, Dr Kitchener gave evidence at a Legislative Council inquiry into Tasmanian adult imprisonment and youth detention, saying Tasmania needed a Human Rights Act, a transparent whistleblowing process and reduced secrecy.

“We need a reformed human rights framework,” she said.

“We need a human rights culture in parliament and in the sector for crime and recidivism rates to decrease.”

Academic Val Kitchener, who heads a Tasmanian response to the United Nations convention against torture, gives evidence to a Legislative Council inquiry into the state's prison system.

Dr Kitchener, who is based at the University of Tasmania, said the institution had been meeting online with the United Nations in a bid to learn how to reduce crime and repeat offending within the state.

She said Ashley was the “standout item” in which the state was failing, “where we really have to test our mettle”.

“I am very, very deeply distressed and upset by what is happening at Ashley,” she told the panel of upper house members.

“It’s a terrible situation for those young people and it’s a stain on what is happening in Tasmania at the moment.”

Dr Kitchener also slammed ongoing lockdowns at Ashley, which was also criticised recently for its use of isolation as a violation of the United Nations convention against torture and its convention on the rights of the child.

“This is a direct contravention of their rights. The restrictions really need to have a light shone on them,” Dr Kitchener said.

Tasmania’s former Chief Magistrate Michael Hill.

Also giving evidence on Wednesday was Tasmania’s former Chief Magistrate Michael Hill, who was appointed to the bench in the 1980s.

He said he was trained to process court lists as quickly as possible, but soon started to look into how alternative, problem-solving court systems were run interstate and overseas, becoming an advocate for criminal justice reform.

“In the early 90s, I started to see what is commonly known as ‘the revolving door’ becoming pretty obvious,” Mr Hill said.

“A lot of the people we were getting had originally been detained at Royal Derwent (psychiatric hospital) and similar institutions, and they were now out in the community doing strange things – generally because they were unwell, not criminals.

“I was told by senior magistrates, ‘Michael, they’re all the same’. And I thought, with respect, they’re not.”

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