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‘Show leadership by heart’: Families say Premier not getting the full story on Banksia Hill
An advocate for children locked up in a unit in Western Australia’s biggest maximum-security prison has challenged the state’s Premier Mark McGowan to speak with their family members.
Since July, some of the state’s most troubled teens have been sent to Perth’s Casuarina maximum security prison after several detainees caused extensive damage to cells at WA’s only youth detention facility, Banksia Hill.
Youth detainees are being held at Casuarina Prison.
Since the establishment of Unit 18 at Casuarina advocates like National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery project director Megan Krakouer have alleged they are being mistreated and not provided access to services that meet their complex needs.
About 17 teenagers were sent to the facility in July and one of that original group remains in there today. The unit, which is separated from the adult prison population, currently holds 11 detainees.
Krakouer said of the 17 teenagers that were first sent to Unit 18, 12 of them had been diagnosed with serious mental illnesses — mostly fetal alcohol syndrome.
“They did not have the proper support, there was not even an occupational health therapist at that time,” she said.
Krakouer said rates of self-harm and suicide attempts increased dramatically for detainees in Unit 18.
He needs to understand the depths of this issue and he can only do that when listening to the people that have been impacted.
Megan Krakouer
McGowan and Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston have been attempting to bat away growing outrage at their management of WA’s youth justice system, which has been coming from a raft of high-profile legal specialists, including judges, the Commissioner for Children and Young People, brain injury researchers and advocacy groups.
In a stinging editorial published in The West Australian on Tuesday former Children’s Court WA president Denis Reynolds and former Inspector of Custodial Services WA Neil Morgan accused successive governments of running the Banksia Hill facility into the ground.
Former WA Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan, The Telethon Kids Institute (which conducted the groundbreaking research into FASD rates at Banksia Hill), The Aboriginal Legal Service and the Commissioner for Children and Young People Jacqueline McGowan-Jones are all outraged.
One of the harshest critics is Children’s Court judge Hylton Quail who has been railing against Unit 18 and Banksia Hill for more than a year.
During several sentencing hearings, Quail told the court that children and teenagers in Banksia Hill were being held in “unlawful” conditions thanks to extended lockdowns prompted by critical staff shortages.
As far back as February Quail warned that the facility was turning children into “monsters”.
The WA government is now facing legal challenges on multiple fronts including a class action by current and former detainees who claim their human rights were violated at the facility as well as a complaint to the Human Rights Commission.
Krakouer pleaded with McGowan to meet with family members of detainees.
“We need Mr McGowan to intervene, speak to some of the mothers, speak to some of the grandmothers, speak to some of the children,” she said.
“He’s obviously being fed the wrong information, which isn’t consistent with what children and families are telling me.
“He needs to understand the depths of this issue and he can only do that when listening to the people that have been impacted.
“Show that leadership by heart.”
On Thursday McGowan continued to defend his government’s youth detention system.
McGowan said there were no easy solutions and the decision to keep some teenagers in Unit 18 had resulted in better outcomes for the staff and teenagers remaining at Banksia Hill.
“When they’re in detention, if they then destroy their cell, so they’re uninhabitable and disrupt everyone else and the staff we have to manage that,” he said.
“If you’ve got other detainees destroying it for everyone and assaulting staff, setting things on fire or ripping out pipes and letting water in or destroying cells it wrecks it for those who are trying to get themselves back on track.”
The Aboriginal Legal Service WA has previously pointed out that poor conditions led to poor behaviour.
“They need fresh air, human connection, education and adults to mentor them. If they are provided with these basic things, they will not act out,” chief executive Dennis Eggington said in August.
McGowan said he had read research into detainees at the prison, which found many had fetal alcohol syndrome and recognised many of them had difficult backgrounds but disruptive behaviour had to be managed.
“Their lives are tough, their lives are hard,” he said.
“But we also have to protect the public and we have to protect our staff.”
A spokesman for McGowan did not respond to a direct question about whether he would consider Krakouer’s request.
The spokesman pointed to commentary from the Department of Justice about the education and recreation opportunities available to Unit 18 inmates.
He said all young people in Unit 18 were provided education by fully qualified and registered teachers while the Department of Education funded three full-time teachers at Banksia Hill.
“Additionally, educational materials are available for all young people both within the Unit and upon request, staff often support young people with education outside of the arrangements for formal education classes,” he said.
An art and craft tutor attended the prison on weekends while trade courses were run for older detainees.
He also said the detainees were also able to play sport at the prison, board games, electronic games and had access to a library while movies were screened in the common area of the unit.
Earlier this year the WA government announced $25 million for a Crisis Care Unit to help deal with high need detainees but that won’t be completed until 2026.
The government is also undertaking priority works at Banksia Hill to fix damaged cells, install anti-climb roofs and fences and upgrade CCTV.
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