2 days ago
Tasmania's prison watchdog calls for end to practice of housing kids in adult watch-houses
Tasmania's Office of the Custodial Inspector says the state government is failing to keep children safe through its continued practice of placing them in adult prison watch-houses.
Last week, Custodial Inspector Richard Connock published a report into the placement of children in two of the state's watch-houses — the Hobart and Launceston reception prisons.
The report found "children being held in the state's adult prisons were exposed to threats of sexual abuse, violent behaviour and inhumane and degrading treatment".
It also found there were 642 receptions of 222 children between December 2022 and August 2024.
Alleged children and youth offenders in Tasmania are eligible for bail depending on the seriousness of their alleged crimes.
If they are ineligible, they await court appearances in watch-house cells.
"Children should not be in prison. This is the clear conclusion from this report," Mr Connock said.
"These watch-houses look, feel, smell, sound and function like prisons.'
"The vast majority of people held there are adults, and they are run by prison staff with a background in managing adults, not children."
The report found children were often held for 16 to 24 hours in cells designed for temporary detention, saying they "lack the amenities and opportunities that exist in long-stay prisons, including access to fresh air and exercise".
There were two cases where a child was not released for 43.5 hours.
The report recommended the government develop a plan to "minimise and then stop the use of prison watch-houses for children" and develop an alternative that aligns with broader youth justice reform.
Mr Connock said children told his office that "watch-houses are noisy and that they can hear adults shouting at all hours", and one child disclosed they were subjected to threats of sexual abuse by an adult.
Former West Australian custodial inspector Professor Neil Morgan, who contributed to the report, said the Hobart Reception Prison watch-house was "one of the most confronting things I've encountered in a place of child custody".
The report noted that prison watch-houses were "only minimally mentioned" in the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government's Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's final report in 2023.
In response to the commission to inquiry, the Tasmanian government promised to overhaul its youth justice model, but the custodial inspector fears watch-houses are being overlooked.
The announced overhaul includes raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, building a new facility to replace the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, and the implementation of a therapeutic model of care in youth justice facilities.
However, in the report, the the Department of Children and Young made clear to the custodial inspector that the yet-to-be-built replacement facility for the Ashley Youth Detention Centre "has not been designed as a substitute for watch-house detention".
The custodial inspector, Mr Connock, said he wrote to the Youth Justice Reform Expert Panel in January 2025, raising concerns about the lack of reform for children being placed in prison watch-houses.
In response, the deputy secretary of the Department of Children and Young People said the issue was "of great concern" to the panel, however "the commission of inquiry did not make recommendations specifically in relation to watch-houses".
A Tasmanian government spokesperson said its Youth Justice Model of Care, released in December 2024, "provides for a coordinated and consistent approach to the delivery of trauma-informed".
It also provides "evidence-based and culturally safe services to children and young people in contact with, or at risk of coming into contact with the youth justice system, and their families across Tasmania".
The report found that from December 2022 to August 2024, Aboriginal children made up 40 per cent of the watch-house population, and 56 per cent of girls under 15 were Aboriginal.
Girls, particularly Aboriginal girls as young as 13, were also more often subjected to searches by male staff, which is against search protocol.
Protocol since 2022 is that searches should involve two people of the same gender as the child, or if gender-diverse, as requested by the child.
The Tasmania Prison Service operates the watch-houses and said changes have "resulted in significantly fewer intrusive searches for children being undertaken".
It said it would ensure protocol was met "as much as practicable" and investigate cases where it was not.
Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service CEO Jake Smith said it was "shocking" that this can and still occurs, and called for more cultural supports for Aboriginal children.
"To be searched by someone of a different gender and housed alongside adults further adds trauma. This needs to be urgently addressed.
"We know that when children are arrested and particularly held on remand and go through the youth justice system that it likely leads to more crime and more offending."
The report said children in watch-houses "often have nothing to do except rest or become frustrated, distressed, or bored", and are "effectively kept in isolation, unless there is another child in their cell".
"Lack of social contact adds to the stress of the environment and exacerbates risk of suicide and self-harm, which are already elevated upon entry into custody," the report said.
The Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management rejected that outcomes of detention in watch-houses were inherently negative — saying it can also be a "circuit breaker".
"Children in watch-houses also have the opportunity to be calm and contemplative and it should be recognised that they can become so when removed from the environment and influences that have contributed to the behaviour that led to them being held there," the department said.
It said eligible children were bailed "by default and as expeditiously as possible", but if not eligible, "they will attend court as soon as practicable".
Tasmanian Greens MP Vica Bayley said the government needed to act, saying "it's not appropriate to incarcerate children in adult watch-houses".
"There wouldn't be a person in Tasmania who wouldn't want our children looked after and cared for appropriately," he said.
The Department of Children and Young People (DECYP) said the planned new Tasmanian youth justice facility in Pontville, near Hobart, which is designed to replace the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, "is expected to contribute to a reduction in the number of children entering watch-house settings".
It agreed that reducing reliance on watch-houses was "an important goal".
Mr Connock's report makes 12 recommendations, including implementing more culturally appropriate and gender-informed support persons, greater measures to reduce the length of stay, improving record keeping, and ensuring that girls and gender-diverse children are not disadvantaged in prison watch-houses.
"The reform agenda will only succeed if it embraces all the situations where children are in custody," the report said.
A Tasmanian government spokesperson said the government will consider all recommendations from the Custodial Inspector's report.
