A group of 20 young offenders from Banksia Hill detention centre will be relocated to a new youth facility at Casuarina Prison after causing extensive damage to cells and behaving aggressively towards staff.
The damage bill to repair the affected cells has exceeded $1.8 million, according to Corrective Services Commissioner Mike Reynolds.
"The short-term youth detention centre will provide a safe environment for the 20 young men while we restore Banksia Hill to a safe working environment for staff and detainees and complete the necessary infrastructure works," Mr Reynolds said in a statement.In some cases, the damage allowed the male detainees to escape from their cells, giving them access to shared areas within the facility.
Mr Johnston said youth detention centres were not built as securely as prisons, so relocating this group was the appropriate measure to ensure the safety of custodial officers. He said the group would be housed in a 256-bed unit at Casuarina, which is not currently needed due to adult crime rates dropping during the pandemic.
"Banksia Hill is a youth detention facility and it's built in a different manner to an adult male prison. So, obviously, the cells at the male prison are much more secure," he said.
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