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🇦🇺 Australia /Crime & Justice

Children forced to use toilets in front of others in police watch house, tribunal told

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Conditions for children in Queensland police watch houses remain unchanged and inadequate, a youth advocate stated.
  • A tribunal found three teenage boys experienced human rights breaches, including using toilets in front of others and detention in padded cells.
  • The advocate warns that proposed new youth bail laws could worsen overcrowding in a system ill-equipped to handle more children.

Conditions for children held in police watch houses in Queensland, Australia, have not improved in several years, according to a prominent youth advocate. This statement comes after the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) published findings detailing human rights breaches experienced by three teenage boys, aged 13 to 17, during their detention in Cairns watch houses in 2021 and 2022.

The four detention centres in Queensland … are all operating beyond safe capacity at the moment.

— Katherine HayesYouth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes stated that the conditions leading to the tribunal's findings have not improved and that detention centers are over capacity.

QCAT determined that the boys were held in cells with minimal privacy, forcing them to use toilets in front of others. One boy's detention in a padded cell for over an hour was deemed incompatible with his human rights. The tribunal also noted a lack of educational materials, limited access to exercise yards, and infrequent clothing changes. The detention cells were described as unhygienic, lacking natural light, and situated too close to adult detainees.

The conditions that led to those findings had still not improved.

— Katherine HayesKatherine Hayes commented on the lack of improvement in watch house conditions for children.

Katherine Hayes, chief executive of the Youth Advocacy Centre, expressed that these findings are unsurprising and reflect daily conditions across Queensland's watch houses. She noted that children's mental health deteriorates rapidly in these environments, potentially leading to further criminal behavior. Hayes also raised concerns that the state's proposed youth bail laws could exacerbate the problem by increasing the number of children in a detention system that is already struggling with capacity and lacking adequate rehabilitation services.

The findings were unsurprising and the conditions were replicated across Queensland watch houses daily.

— Katherine HayesHayes described the findings as unsurprising and representative of daily conditions in watch houses.

Despite the tribunal dismissing claims of indirect discrimination, it ordered the state to issue apologies to the affected teenagers. Hayes emphasized that many young people in the justice system face significant challenges, including domestic violence, mental health issues, neurodivergence, and developmental delays. She warned that without proper support and rehabilitation, these children are more likely to re-offend upon release.

They won't receive rehabilitation and they will commit more crimes when they're released.

— Katherine HayesHayes expressed concern that the proposed youth bail laws would lead to more children in detention without rehabilitation, increasing recidivism.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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