16/02/09

BANKSIA HILL JUVENILE DETENTION CENTRE: THE CHALLENGE OF FUTURE ACCOMMODATION PLANNING

The second inspection of Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre was carried out from 15 to 20 June 2008, and at the time of the inspection the centre, which was originally designed to hold sentenced detainees (male and female) held a mix of sentenced and remanded male detainees. At the last inspection in March 2005 the Inspector concluded that Banksia Hill was 'one of the best-performing institutions within the remit of the Department of Corrective Services'.

The conclusion to be drawn from this inspection is not so fulsome. Unfortunately the centre has failed to make noticeable progress over the three years since the first inspection, and indeed some areas of good practice have slipped, requiring improvement to restore the centre to a position of strong performance. However, the centre has maintained a strong pro-social environment with good staff–detainee interactions in the intervening period, and detainees, staff and visitors to the centre generally reported feeling safe in the centre most or all of the time. This achievement should not be diminished, as the facility is under pressure on a number of fronts, in particular from an increase in detainee population and change of population mix, insufficient staffing, and pressure on infrastructure.

These matters are detailed in the Report, however the primary issue confronting Banksia Hill and the juvenile estate at this juncture is the growth in the detainee population over the last three years, and the shift in the proportion of sentenced to remanded detainees whereby remandees now make up some 60% of the total population of juveniles in custody. With limited options for responding to these developments the Department of Corrective Services, in October 2005, decided to house all female detainees (sentenced and remand) at the Rangeview Juvenile Remand Centre, with Banksia Hill as a consequence accommodating more remand males. Whilst this may have been the only viable response to the circumstances, it has compromised the function of Banksia Hill as a detention centre for sentenced juveniles, and placed the sentenced female population in a facility that was never intended for such a purpose. The result is Banksia Hill now routinely managing a more volatile, unsentenced, shorter stay male population, and Rangeview housing sentenced females without the facilities or adequate services to meet their needs. A wholly unsatisfactory situation.

The landscape has now shifted with the change of government, in that the Liberal Government has committed $40 million to build, within the first term of government, a Young Offenders Prison with a capacity for 80 persons for non-violent male young offenders between the ages of 18 and 22. This commitment represents an opportunity for the Department of Corrective Services to contemplate a more appropriate and complete accommodation solution to these matters. The minimum expectation should be separate facilities for young offenders, and remand and sentenced juveniles, with a dedicated purpose-built precinct for sentenced juvenile females.

Barry Cram
Acting Inspector of Custodial Services
10 February 2009

Barry Cram will be available for comment from 12 noon on Monday 16 February and can be
contacted on 9212 6200 or 0403 387 441.

The 'Report of an Announced Inspection of Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre' is available by clicking on the link below.

Download : Media Release (PDF)
Download : Report of an Announced Inspection of Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre (PDF)