a day ago
WA coroner's early response in Cleveland Dodd inquest a vote of no confidence in Justice Department
In handing down his early assessment of WA's first recorded death in youth detention, Coroner Philip Urquhart had the opportunity to provide a vote of confidence in how the Department of Justice responded to the tragedy.
WARNING: This story discusses incidents of self-harm and contains the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died.
Instead, he did the opposite, at least in part.
The department has repeatedly argued the inquest's scope should be limited to only what is directly relevant to Cleveland Dodd's death, which came after he self-harmed inside his cell in a makeshift youth detention facility in 2023.
In its closing submissions, it said "the general operation of youth justice in this state" should be looked into "at another time and in another place".
That was despite Coroner Urquhart describing evidence heard by the inquest as revealing "youth justice was in a crisis at the time of Cleveland's death and had been for some considerable time".
Would it be reasonable to expect the department to bring those broader issues to the attention of those other authorities who it said would be better placed to look into them?
"I do not consider the department would do so," was Coroner Urquhart's assessment.
The reason was simple.
At the same time as the department was telling him more fundamental issues should be looked into elsewhere, it was arguing there was no reason to even go looking.
"The department does not consider there is any material to suggest there is any scope for an adverse comment to be made about itself or its employees on most, if not all, of those issues," was how Coroner Urquhart summed it up.
But he has a different view.
Those issues were serious and included problems at Banksia Hill Detention Centre which led to the rushed opening of Unit 18, allegations of "untruthful or misleading messaging" about the facility and whether it had been opened "before it was safe to do so".
"There is evidence that has revealed aspects of the manner in which the department did its work which is worthy, in my view, of closer examination in a special inquiry," was the polite way he phrased it, pointing to some of the evidence he had heard.
Among it, testimony from then-corrective services commissioner Mike Reynolds, who had been on leave around the opening of Unit 18, that it was a "bad decision" which was "destined to fail".
He also pointed to evidence from Christine Ginbey, who had been in charge of youth detention at the time, saying the three weeks or so her team was given to get Unit 18 ready was "entirely unreasonable" and should have been closer to six months.
While the idea of a special inquiry makes sense — given its scope can be much broader and isn't scope not as constrained as an inquest — it's hard to see the government willingly submit itself to another inquiry which almost certainly would not paint its work in a positive light.
"I'm not going to add any more in relation to that, it's far too early," Corrective Services Commissioner Brad Royce said outside court.
A state government spokesperson said it could not comment "until the inquest's final report is delivered".
To its credit, the department has not been waiting for that final report to take action — something Coroner Urquhart did acknowledge.
"We have had the opportunity throughout this inquest to understand the likely recommendations and we've acted on those," Commissioner Royce said.
"From the time of the start of this coronial process you would see that there have been a lot of changes and I'd like to acknowledge that the staff at Corrective Services and our significant partners have put a lot of effort into the change that you've seen across the estate.
"We acknowledge that we have a lot of work to do and we'll continue to work hard in that space."
It is this change that Cleveland Dodd's family hope has a meaningful impact.
"If Cleveland had all the right help … maybe he'd be here today with us," his grandmother Roslyn Sullivan said outside court.
"All the things he went through, I wouldn't want another child to go through that."
Despite the department's work, a key request of Cleveland's family — and what the coroner has flagged could be one of his key recommendations — remains just an idea.
Since it opened there have been calls to close Unit 18, the argument being an adult prison will never be suitable to look after the state's most vulnerable youths.
The government has maintained it cannot close the facility until a replacement is built, because it needs two distinct locations to manage young people in detention, lest the chaos that led to the opening of Unit 18 be repeated.
The government promised to do that in late 2023, the month after Cleveland died.
But the government is yet to allocate the project more than $11.5 million in last month's state budget — money it announced nearly a year ago for planning and early site works.
That's not enough to satisfy Cleveland's family and those desperate for change.
While not directly addressed by Coroner Urquhart, he did note he is still weighing up whether to recommend Unit 18 be closed when he hands down his final report.
"Everything must be done to minimise the risk of another death of a child in youth detention in Western Australia," he said in closing the inquest's hearings yesterday.
The ultimate test for this inquest — and any processes that follow it — is whether they result in real, lasting change in WA's long-troubled youth justice system.
Former inspector of custodial services Neil Morgan wrote in 2017: "For the nine years I have been in this job, Banksia Hill has lurched from crisis to partial recovery and then back into crisis."
Only time will tell if that cycle will be broken this time around.
And while a specific examination into what went wrong at the department is not essential, it certainly wouldn't hurt efforts to deliver meaningful change.
