Children are routinely and inappropriately locked down in their cells and subject to unacceptable levels of isolation within Victoria’s youth justice system, a damning report to parliament has revealed.
Some children were forced to urinate and defecate on the floor, according to the report by the Commission for Children and Young People.
The report, called The Same Four Walls, details long-standing issues of understaffing, poor transparency and extensive use of restrictive practices. An average of nine detainees were placed in isolation every day, a figure which rose five-fold to 42 times per day in December.
While 23% of the recorded isolations lasted an hour, some young people were kept in their cells for 24 hours or more. By law isolation can only be used to prevent immediate threat of a young person harming themselves or others, or damaging property, or for security issues. Isolating a young person as a form of punishment is prohibited.
But the commissioner for children and young people, Liana Buchanan, said the report identified that isolation was being used as a key behaviour management tool in Victoria’s youth justice centres, rather than as a last resort and for the shortest possible time.
“This practice fails to recognise that isolation can cause severe short and long term harm to children and is simply not an effective way to address behavioural problems,” she said.
Whole prisons units had been “locked down” more than 500 times over the past 18 months, the report found. Victoria’s minister for youth affairs, Jenny Mikakos, said on Thursday that the government had accepted all recommendations from the report either in full or in principle.
Some children and young people were isolated from their peers and their routine for up to 45 days at a time, including detainees who were victims of assault or who had attempted suicide.
The report also found poor record-keeping by Department of Health and Human Services staff suggested the use of seclusion was not taken seriously, and that staff sometimes failed to record the reasons for using isolation and seclusion.
In making their findings the Commission analysed data provided by the Department, reviewed CCTV footage, examined literature on isolation practices and impacts, made several site visits and inspections, and reviewed reports. They also conducted wide-ranging consultation with youth justice staff, union delegates, support workers, Department management and children and young people.
“Our inquiry was significantly hampered by deficiencies in record keeping, some of which have been acknowledged by [the Department],” the report said. “Data we requested was often incomplete or internally inconsistent. All analyses and conclusions are based on our best assessment of what we have been provided, corroborated against other sources wherever possible.”
More than 50 of the recorded lockdowns lasted longer than 36 hours, and a further 88 lockdowns saw children locked in their rooms for 13 to 20 hours.
“These findings provide a broader context for recent unrest in Victoria’s youth justice centres,” Buchanan said. “Lockdowns impact children and young people’s access to education, visits and other programs essential for their rehabilitation. They also impact their mental health, exacerbating anxiety, anger and frustration. This creates tensions and makes centres even harder for staff to manage safely.”
The commissioner for Aboriginal children and young people, Andrew Jackomos, said he was appalled by the high rates of children being subjected to isolation.
At the Malmsbury youth detention centre, 30% of those placed in isolation were Koori, despite Koori clients only making up 16% of the youth justice population, the report found. “More than two-thirds of isolations imposed on Koori kids were not appropriately authorised and cultural support workers are not being engaged as policy requires,” Jackomos said.
“Isolation as is being practiced currently is contrary to the findings and principles of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody and after 25 years the system does not appear to have learnt anything.”
Custodial staff, rather than clinical staff, had the key responsibility for determining the appropriate observation and care of children who had self-harmed and attempted suicide, which the commission said was a serious concern.
An effective youth justice system must maintain a focus on addressing offending behaviour, the chief executive of Jesuit Social Services, Julie Edwards, said. “The use of lockdown is always damaging – but in particular, arbitrary lockdowns not connected with young people’s behaviour, such as those related to staff shortages, merely serves to create despair and resentment.”
International youth justice expert Vincent Schiraldi said while young people must be held accountable for their actions and recognise where their behaviour has negatively affected others, evidence from around the world had shown a therapeutic rather than punitive response to children and young people was most effective in achieving this.
Chief executive of the Victorian Council of Social Service, Emma King, said Victoria’s use of lockdown was “unusually cruel”. “It doesn’t help the kids or make our community safer,” she said.
“The way to keep Victoria safe is to embrace therapeutic and age-appropriate approaches to justice, not cruel and outdated forms of punishment.”
Victoria’s Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, Kristen Hilton, described the findings as “distressing”. She urged the government to urgently review the report.
“Many of the children in our youth justice system have a history of abuse, neglect, mental health concerns or have an intellectual disability. The harmful effects of isolation and confinement are even more acute for such children who have particular vulnerabilities and associated complex needs.”
