Kids being kept in cells with adults for weeks
Youth advocates say adults are taking precedence over children at a police watchhouse, leading to kids spending weeks in cold concrete cells.
Some incarcerated children are spending weeks alongside adults in a cell with a cold concrete bench, no natural light or fresh air and no privacy when using the bathroom.
Queensland kids are being detained in adult watchhouses when they have been recently arrested or while on remand, due to overcrowding at the state’s three youth detention facilities.
There are 37 children in watchhouses across the state with instances of long stays, including a 16-year-old boy spending 18 days in a cell and a 12-year-old spending eight.
Caboolture watchhouse in Queensland’s southeast was converted to a child-specific facility in 2023 to help with demand until the Wacol Youth Remand Centre was brought online.
But youth advocates say the centre has recently been accommodating both kids and adults, leaving vulnerable children exposed to danger.
“The adults yell and abuse them and they’re often fighting or coming off drugs so there’s a lot of really traumatising behaviour going on,” Youth Advocacy Centre CEO Katherine Hayes said on Monday.
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Adults may be arrested one day and have a court hearing the next but the system for children was slower and it could take a few days, Hayes said.
Caboolture was better than other state watchhouses but kids were still isolated in cells with cold concrete benches, no natural light or fresh air and little entertainment or exercise, she said.
They are forced to use an open toilet in front of cellmates, have insufficient food and sometimes have no change of clothes for days.
“The cells are often dirty and the police are fed up with having them there … which is a recipe for disaster,” Hayes said.
Premier David Crisafulli admits it’s not ideal for kids to be kept in adult watchhouses but says there’s no immediate fix.
“I want to see kids be in facilities that are dedicated and they’re able to get the kind of environment that they need,” he told reporters.
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“But it is going to take time to be able to deliver the kind of corrective facilities that a state like Queensland needs.”
The Wacol Youth Remand Centre which was meant to be online by the end of 2024 is now not expected to open until mid-2025.
He also promised better early intervention methods and more education in detention facilities but Hayes said this would not stop kids committing offences.
“By the time kids get to the watchhouse, it’s all too late,” she said.
Lawyers needed better access to kids in watchhouses and the children should be allowed more visits or calls from family members and support staff, she said.
“Give them changes of clothes, give them more entertainment, try to give them more exercise, like get a handball in there, or chalk,” Hayes said.
“(The government) needs to not just accept that these kids’ human rights are going to be breached and try to do something proactive about it.”
Queensland is not the only state with detention overcrowding issues with the Northern Territory reporting watchhouses and prisons are unable to keep up with demand.
Hundreds of people are held in police watchhouses in the NT, with recent laws preventing bail for kids and adults who commit serious offences or breach bail conditions expected to impact the custody rates.
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