THE TROUBLED AT RISK CHILDREN OF BANKSIA HILL DO NOT BELONG IN A MAXIMUM-SECURITY PRISON DUE TO THE LACK OF CARE GIVEN BY A CARELESS JUDICIAL SYSTEM

20 children, aged as young as 14, have been transferred from the Banksia Hill Detention Centre to Casuarina maximum security prison due to "un-manageable behavior". The children are exhibiting highly distressful behaviors such as destroying property, escaping their cells, attacking guards and self-harming. 

This petition is calling of The Department of Justice and The Department of Corrections to take action IMMEDIATELY and make tangible steps to improve the livelihood, well-being and conditions in Banksia Hill Detention Centre.

It is important to note that the vast majority of those incarcerated are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. This decision being made at all, let alone during NAIDOC week, was SHAMEFUL. The continuing over-population of First Nations peoples in our correctional facilities has, and continues to be, a pandemic and a shameful part of the justice system. The systemic racism continues to harm and kill our mob, our elders, our peoples and our children. Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up around 5% of the national population, but they constitute approximately 27% of the national prison population. This will NOT stand.

An exerpt from The Guardian:

WA’s custodial services inspector in April revealed there had been multiple occasions where several boys spent less than an hour outside their cells.

A group of boys had also made repeated suicide attempts, having formed a suicide pact while isolated within Banksia’s intensive support unit.

The co-chair of Social Reinvestment WA, Glenda Kickett, said the majority of children in detention had serious cognitive impairments and needed specialized trauma-informed care.

“Our youth justice system is breaching the human rights of young people, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are the vast majority of those incarcerated,” she said.

“The state government has ignored the root causes of the problems. This must be our wake-up call to fix our system and provide the early intervention, diversion, and rehabilitation supports children need in the community.”

End quote.

The conditions of Banksia Hill have been under investigation and scrutiny for years upon years. Their standards of care for their inmates are appalling and these CHILDREN suffer in this facility, with little to no hope of rehabilitation. The majority of inmates either move on to further incarceration or don't make it out due to suicide. The conditions break multiple human rights violations and even though the facility has received funding to improve these standards, it has not been changed. 

The Director General of the Justice Department, Adam Tomison acknowledged the severely poor conditions at Banksia Hill in February 2022 stating the department needed to do better to improve these conditions. Now, in July 2022, this is his choice and an apparent 'solution' to the problem. Shame.

For further information on this issue, options to take further action and related resources:

https://linktr.ee/plantmilkmanagement