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Three young people are taking on the Queensland government with a legal case claiming their human rights were breached when they were locked up in police watch houses.

The ABC’s 7.30 program can reveal an anti-discrimination and human rights legal challenge is before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT).

The police cells are meant for some of the state’s worst criminals, including adults accused of murder or sexual abuse.

Katie Acheson, the outgoing CEO of the Youth Advocacy Centre, believes the case will shine a light on the practice which she believes should end.

“It should be a wake-up to the Queensland government and the Queensland population,” she said.

“I think many of us don’t realise that there are children right now in an adult watch house.

The legal action comes as the state’s Public Guardian, Shayna Smith, tells 7.30 “advocating for children to not be detained in police watch houses continues to be a priority area of importance”.

The Public Guardian revealed in a statement its community visitors who go into police watch houses raised more than 720 issues on behalf of children in 2021-22.

Those issues commonly included:

• Children aged over 14 years being detained in a watch house for more than four days
• Children aged under 14 years being detained in watch house custody overnight
• Issues about identifying suitable accommodation for when the child is released from the watch house

The Minister for Youth Justice, Leanne Linard, did not respond directly to questions about how the Queensland government planned to respond to the legal case.

“Any question about QPS (Queensland Police Service) operational matters should be referred to QPS.”

Queensland Police said it works with Minister Linard’s department to “ensure young people do not remain in QPS custody for longer periods than necessary,” and that young people are segregated from other prisoners.

“There are a number of reasons for extended custody in watch houses, including that the young person may need to appear on multiple matters within a short time frame, appear at a court located in remote areas of Queensland, or awaiting placement at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre or Brisbane Youth Detention Centre.”

A spokesperson said, “As the QCAT matter referenced is before the tribunal it would be inappropriate for the QPS to comment on proceedings”.

Concerns extended stays are leading to ‘trauma’ for teens

In 2019, ABC’s Four Corners exposed the shocking conditions in police watch houses where children were being held near adult criminals in facilities.

The revelations prompted the Queensland government to remove most children from watch houses.

However, there are growing concerns young people are once again regularly being detained in police cells for days or even weeks at a time following a major crackdown on youth crime that began last year.

The crackdown included a presumption against bail for those accused of serious offences and came after a string of high-profile incidents, including the deaths of a young couple and their unborn child who were hit by a teenager in a stolen car.

The Queensland government argued the tough new measures were needed to target around 400 serious repeated offenders who are responsible for almost half of all youth offending, but youth justice advocates warned they were “knee-jerk” measures that would push children to the margins.

Katie Acheson is speaking out because she is worried about the harm caused by extended custody in a watch house.

Her organisation provides legal support to young people and recently had a troubling case.

“I had a young female recently, she was 16 and she was in the watch house,” she said.

“She had been seen to be unfit for trial because she has such complex mental health issues because of trauma in her childhood.

“She wasn’t given bail, and so she was held in the watch house for six days and during that time, she had no access to her treatment.

Supporting at-risk youth

As night falls across Brisbane’s inner city, Pita Taimani and his outreach team with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service head to areas where at-risk young people like to hang out.

Five nights a week, they check on their safety and offer them a lift home before there’s any trouble.

A key objective is to keep them out of custody – something they work closely with police on.

“We see that there’s a need to support young people that are in the CBD, where they’re not in the eyes of the police, not getting into the watch house,” he told 7.30.

Mr Taimani’s team also offers crucial support to young people, like access to health care and vocational education.

While 7.30 is with Mr Taimani, he finds a teenage boy he knows asleep on a park bench and wakes him up.

Mr Taimani’s service has known him for years and the teenager has had a stint in youth detention.

The boy appears happy to see the workers and accepts a lift home.

Before they drop him off, the workers discuss his plan to get a job in the construction industry and stay out of trouble.

Concerns over human rights breaches

7.30 has obtained multiple complaints made about young people in police watch houses by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), an independent body responsible for protecting the rights and interests of young people in the youth detention system.

The complaints sent to Queensland Police and the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs last year expressed concerns about whether “systemic capacity issues in youth detention centres” are leading to young people being in extended custody in watch houses.

OPG lodged the complaints after individual children were unable to be moved to a detention centre because no beds were available.

The complaints question whether the practice is a breach of the Queensland Police Service Operational Procedures Manual, inconsistent with young peoples’ rights under the Youth Justice Act, and may be unjustifiable under Queensland’s Human Rights Act.

It claims watch houses are inadequately resourced or regulated to care for young people for extended periods, young people are often in view of adult inmates, they have limited access to fresh air, showers, and services including health care and education, and the environment can lead to increased anxiety and trauma.

Ms Linard defended the present practice, saying in a statement: “Most young people are held in watch houses for a very short period, and each day Youth Justice undertakes assessments to prioritise admissions to detention centres”.

She said there are currently 273 young people in Queensland’s youth detention centres and the total built capacity is 306.

The government also says it has intervention programs underway, including youth co-responder teams that work with children currently in the youth justice system or are at risk of entering the system.

Focusing on prevention

Detective Acting Sergeant Stuart McIntyre from Queensland Police is with the Moreton Youth Justice co-responder team, which works in an area north of Brisbane.

He conducts patrols of the area at night, alongside Hannah Roberts from the Department of Children, Youth Justice, and Multicultural Affairs.

“Co-responder team is a 24-hour model, youth justice and police working together to deter young people from committing offences and decreased offending,” Acting Sergeant McIntyre said.

“The sort of kids that we focus on would be young people that [are from a background of] intergenerational offending, domestic violence, issues in the household — so we want to start there and talk to them and offer referrals for the family as a whole and a holistic approach.

Acting Sergeant McIntyre said the co-responder team also closely monitors bail conditions of young people.

“In the event that they are breaching their bail, we have a prosecutor embedded within our task force and their principal responsibility is to review the bail conditions and upon their next court appearance in the event that they continue to breach their bail they may be objected to,” he said.

He also visits young people in watch houses.

“They talk about their mental health while they’re there, and how being within the watch house adversely affects them.”

Calls to rethink the youth justice system

In a statement, Queensland Police said: “A significant proportion of high-risk young people are being kept in detention to protect the community as a result of the new show cause bail provisions.

“The community needs to be protected from high-level violent criminal behaviour, regardless of the age of offenders.”

It also said rehabilitating young offenders remained a priority to deliver long-term change.

“The second phase of the Youth Justice Taskforce is to focus strongly on intensifying work after detention — bringing in all relevant government agencies, families, community leaders to address underlying issues and bolster assistance to young people,” it said.

“This is a multi-agency collaborative panel approach to case manage high-risk repeat youth offenders. There are eighteen panels operating across the state.”

Ms Acheson is calling on the Queensland government to immediately end the use of watch houses to detain young people.

“How do we divert children away from cells and into the community and into a life that is meaningful?”

Watch 7.30 , Mondays to Thursdays 7.30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV

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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has ordered an extraordinary overhaul of youth justice, setting up a new department to tackle the crisis after Four Corners revealed children as young as 10 were being held in maximum security adult watch houses in Queensland.

Ms Palaszczuk will separate Youth Justice from the Child Safety portfolio, for a more focused approach “with fresh eyes”.

The department will be headed by Deputy Police Commissioner Bob Gee, as director-general.

The State Government had been under intense pressure since Four Corners exposed chronic overcrowding in youth detention centres was forcing children to be held in adult maximum security watch houses, some for more than a month.

Serious cases of child harm were revealed by the ABC, including a girl who was placed in a cell with two alleged male sex offenders and another girl whose finger was severed in a watch house door.

Other children who have been deemed at risk of self-harm are often placed inside padded isolation cells and put in so-called suicide smocks.

Ms Palaszczuk said the new department would use existing staff and there would be no changes to ministerial responsibilities.

She said she was determined not to waste a single dollar or another day.

“These issues cross a number of government responsibilities — police, courts, child safety and education,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“I want one person with one job — to coordinate and see these programs delivered.

“Bob Gee is the perfect person to get the job done.

“When it comes to marshalling resources and sending them where they’re needed, Bob Gee has proven himself one of the best in the world.”

‘I’ll lay it out for her slowly’

Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington tweeted shortly after the announcement.

“OMG. @AnnastaciaMP just announced a new department to handle her youth justice crisis,” Ms Frecklington tweeted.

“I’ll lay it out for her slowly — get the kids out of the watch houses today.”

Mr Gee said he was approached by the Premier’s office about the new role on Thursday and will start work on Monday.

He said he wanted to see children out of watch houses “as soon as possible”.

“It is very, very clear that we need to build new beds, but to think we can solve poverty, disadvantage — particularly in rural remote areas — is foolish,” he said.

Mr Gee said he would work with parents, community and other agencies to develop medium and long-term plans for incarcerated children.

“There’s no silver bullet,” he said.

“We need to step back … tonight there’s probably 250 to 270 children that need care and what we need to do is make a purposeful plan for each one of them.

“As a lifelong police officer, I know exactly what we are dealing with,” he said.

“I applaud the Premier’s leadership tackling this issue head-on.”

Minister for Child Safety, Youth and Women, Di Farmer, said she welcomed Mr Gee’s appointment.

“As we have shown, tackling youth justice needs a coordinated and targeted approach and Bob is the perfect person to spearhead our initiatives,” Ms Farmer said.

Ms Palaszczuk also acknowledged the public servants who had worked diligently over many years to achieve better outcomes for youth offenders, and who would continue to carry on the work under the new department.

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• QLD
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Senior officials from the Queensland Premier’s department were warned multiple times about serious incidents and concerns regarding children being held in maximum-security adult watch houses.

One email addressed to the Director-General of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Dave Stewart, told of the case of a girl held in the Brisbane City Watch House who was found to be pregnant, and how her transfer out of the facility “was refused by Youth Justice”.

The 16-year old was finally shifted out of the watch house five days after her pregnancy was discovered.

The warnings are contained in correspondence sent by Queensland’s Public Guardian, Natalie Siegel-Brown, that were obtained by Four Corners under Right to Information.

“Please be assured I am not emailing these matters to be painful, but I do want to be the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for government wherever I can,” Ms Siegel-Brown wrote in one email in February.

“These matters are most certainly keeping me up at night and I want to be able to support their address.”

In an earlier email in January to Mr Stewart and two other senior officials in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Ms Siegel-Brown passed on a detailed report from one of her managers outlining serious concerns about juveniles inside watch houses.

“Children and young people continue to be isolated, separated, restrained and subject to use of force in accordance with [Queensland Police Service] processes, rather than those used within a youth detention centre,” the manager wrote.

“I am concerned about the resultant trauma of such practices for children who are now subject to lengthy stays.”

Last night Four Corners revealed that children who are deemed at risk of self-harm are often placed inside padded isolation cells and put in so-called suicide smocks .

The Public Guardian told the program that it was not until vigorous advocacy from her office that children were allowed to wear underwear under the smocks.

One boy placed in isolation for 23 days

Ms Siegel-Brown spoke about another incident in which a girl was accidentally placed in a watch house area with two alleged male sex offenders.

Four Corners also revealed how at least one child had a finger severed by a cell door, and how there had been at least three suicide attempts by young people.

One boy was also placed in isolation for 23 days after being deemed a risk to other children.

In the January email from Ms Siegel-Brown, the Department of Premier and Cabinet officials were told that incidents involving children in watch houses were only recorded if “medical attention or hospital admission is required”.

“I am particularly concerned with regard to self-harm/attempted suicide and assaults among children and their ability to be safeguarded.”

The email also revealed that children had reported that “they have no footwear whilst accommodated in the Watchhouse … they are reporting that their feet are constantly dirty, the floors are dirty/sticky and they are getting tinea.”

A follow-up email to the Department of Premier and Cabinet by Ms Siegel-Brown in February told of 23 children who had stayed “in excess of two weeks in the watch house … one of the children stayed for 17 days in the Mount Isa watch house”.

In a third email later in February to the Director-General and his officials, the Public Guardian wrote that “it is clear from the children held in the watch house … that there is significant prevalence of psychiatric and cognitive impairment … the watch house is detrimental to their conditions.”

The Deputy Director-General of the Policy Division of the Department Premier and Cabinet, Mark Cridland, responded in a brief email: “Again, we will consider this ahead of our workshop on Friday.”

Four Corners can also reveal Queensland’s ombudsman has launched an investigation into the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women over the holding of children in watch houses, and whether it is lawful and responsible.

The office of the Director-General of the Department of Premier and Cabinet did not respond to the ABC’s questions.

A spokesman for the Premier said a brief was prepared detailing issues surrounding children in watch houses in February and March.

He said the Government announced more than $300 million in spending on programs including diversion and watch house response teams and on 48 new youth detention beds.

Watch Mark Willacy’s Four Corners investigation, Inside the Watch House, on ABC TV and iview .

• Pregnant girl was locked in watch house for weeks: The Watch House Files

  

• 12yo girl left in suicide smock in adult watch house for nine days

  

• How Four Corners secured unprecedented access to a police watch house

  

• Australia
• Cairns
• Children
• Community and Society
• Family and Relationships
• Law, Crime and Justice
• Police
• Prisons and Punishment
• QLD
• Rockhampton
• Townsville

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