Another child dies in youth correctional facility in Western Australia

Last week, a 17-year-old boy committed suicide in his cell at the Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Western Australia. This tragic event was the second death of a child in the state's youth correctional system in less than a year.

In October 2023, 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd lost his life through self-harm in Unit 18, a converted unit for child prisoners, at Casuarina, a maximum security prison for adults.

An investigation into Cleveland's death found that Unit 18 inmates were held in solitary confinement and often housed in cells without running water.

Dana Levitt, a lawyer representing children currently and previously detained at Banksia Hill and Unit 18 in class action lawsuits against the Western Australian government, told Human Rights Watch that one of her colleagues interviewed the 17-year-old about his experiences in detention in late 2023. She said the boy seemed “intelligent and motivated.”

Levitt reported that the boy, who was in Unit 18 at the time, said he was a ward of the state, had a disability and had been repeatedly detained since he was 11 years old.

In his interview, he described in detail the abuse he endured while in custody, including routine solitary confinement. This account has yet to be confirmed by department documents or records.

Levitt wrote in an email to Human Rights Watch:

“He was subjected to the following practices, all of which are inconsistent with a trauma-informed model of care: regular verbal abuse by prison staff; excessive use of force, including the use of chemical warfare agents, i.e. pepper spray, deployed by prison guards; and routine solitary confinement, including after he inflicted severe self-harm and attempted suicide.”

Solitary confinement is harmful in general, but it is particularly harmful for children and people with disabilities. In 2018, Human Rights Watch documented that people with disabilities were disproportionately placed in solitary confinement in Australian prisons. In 2020, Human Rights Watch reported that the Western Australian government failed to adequately recognize the risk of self-harm and suicide, failed to provide them with meaningful mental health support, and increased the likelihood of self-harm and suicide by placing people with disabilities in solitary confinement.

The recent death in Western Australia's youth correctional system highlights the urgent need for reform. The state government should take immediate action to ban solitary confinement for children and people with disabilities and invest in detention alternatives that uphold children's rights.