<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/06/like-guantanamo-the-children-locked-in-solitary-for-weeks-at-a-time-in-queensland-youth-prison>
"In the belly of the Cleveland youth detention centre is a school with teachers
but often no students.
It is ringed by accommodation blocks where, sources allege, hundreds of
school-age children have been kept for extended periods in solitary confinement
– in circumstances that may breach Queensland’s own laws – because there were
not enough guards to let them out.
A
Guardian Australia investigation into the Townsville centre – one of three
Queensland youth prisons – has heard that cell block lockdowns of young people
became so common and widespread at Cleveland earlier this year that some spent
months in detention and attended almost no classes or rehabilitation programs.
Whistleblowers speak of “filthy” conditions where food scraps and other rubbish
have been left to pile up outside cell doors for days.
But it is the widespread and ongoing use of solitary confinement that staff,
youth workers and children in detention all say is further traumatising young
people and turbocharging recidivism rates in the community.
Guardian Australia can reveal that senior Queensland ministers – whose
government has boasted of having the “toughest” youth justice laws in Australia
– were warned 12 months ago that the youth prison was on the verge of crisis
and becoming “like Guantánamo”.
Genevieve Sinclair, chief executive of the Cairns-based youth organisation
Youth Empowered Towards Independence (Yeti), says she made the comment at a
meeting attended by the police minister, Mark Ryan, and the then youth justice
minister, Leanne Linard.
Sinclair says she also raised concerns related to cleanliness, use of solitary
confinement and a lack of schooling with ministers and senior bureaucrats.
“We cannot deliver successful programs in the community if children are subject
to torturous conditions in detention,” Sinclair says."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
