Almost half of the cells at WA's only juvenile prison are out of action because they have been so badly damaged by inmates, but justice advocates say the youths are under too much pressure.
Sparked by increasing concerns around rising incidents of self-harm, suicide attempts and assaults on staff, the review focused on the ISU.
"As also acknowledged in [the department's] responses, many of these young people have significant impairments, traumatic backgrounds of abuse and neglect, and diagnosed complex neurological disorders," he said. "Meeting the complex needs of those young people, combined with staff shortages led to an increase in lockdowns, reduced access to some services and made it difficult to provide meaningful out-of-cell time across the centre, especially in the ISU," he said.
The court was told the Kimberley boy acted out after spending his five-month sentence predominantly in the ISU.His defence lawyer, Paul Tobin, said the boy spent 23 hours a day in the unit, and that had taken its toll. "The department is developing a new operating philosophy and service model that will better enable the delivery of services to young people using trauma-informed principles in line with child safe practices."
That included $7.5 million to build a new crisis care unit, as well as money to improve the intensive supervision unit and create new recreation areas.
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