Latest news with #institutionalabuse
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Prison treatment of Indigenous teenager Cleveland Dodd was cruel, lawyer tells inquest
An Indigenous teenager who fatally self-harmed in detention was subjected to 'cruel and inhumane' treatment, a lawyer for his family said after the inquest into his death resumed. Cleveland Dodd was found unresponsive inside a cell in Unit 18, a youth wing of the high-security Casuarina prison facility for adults in Perth, in the early hours of 12 October 2023. The 16-year-old was taken to hospital in a critical condition and died a week later, causing outrage and grief in the community. A lawyer for Cleveland's mother Nadene Dodd was scathing of the care provided to the teenager by justice department staff, as he gave submissions to the Western Australian coroner's court on Monday. 'Cleveland was subjected to institutional abuse, cruel and inhumane treatment,' Steven Penglis told the inquest. The teenager spent more than 22 hours a day in his cell for 74 of the 86 days he was detained in Unit 18 before he self-harmed, he said. Over that period, he had four hours of recreation time, equating to about three minutes a day. His cell had no running water and in the hours before he was fatally injured he asked for water six times, Penglis said as he recapped evidence heard during the inquest that started in April 2024. Cleveland threatened to self-harm eight times and requested medical attention. His actions were the conclusion of a series of events, including being denied bail, a failed attempt to call his mother on her birthday and severe, untreated dental issues, Penglis said. 'Cleveland's death was preventable and predictable,' he said. An Aboriginal Legal Service lawyer, Julian McMahon, said the inquest revealed there was a readiness across all levels of the justice department to accept the unacceptable. 'What happened at Unit 18 was horrific,' he said in his submissions. There was an 'epidemic of self-harm' among a cohort of mostly Aboriginal children, he said. 'By self-harm, I mean attempted suicide,' McMahon said. There had been at least 17 self-harm threats in the 24 hours before Cleveland fatally injured himself, he said. Lawyers for senior justice department staff said their clients should not be subject to adverse findings, including former director general, Adam Tomison. How the facility was run was not his responsibility and corrective services staff should have followed policy, lawyer Jerome Allan said Tomison previously agreed children had been subject to appalling, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment in Unit 18 under his watch. The justice department apologised to Cleveland's family and said there were many issues in Unit 18 in 2023, including damaged infrastructure, excessive detainee confinement and staff shortages. On the night Cleveland self-harmed, he was not properly supervised and should have been given more water, lawyer Tim Russell said. 'More should have been done,' he said. But the department did not accept Unit 18 was unfit for youth detainees. The inquest previously heard Cleveland self-harmed about 1.35am and paramedics arrived at 2.06am, but did not get access to him for nine minutes. Cleveland died, surrounded by his family, on October 19, 2023. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support
BreakingNews.ie
29-05-2025
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Research proposes justice system overhaul for victims of institutional abuse
A new justice framework is required to better meet the needs of victims and survivors of non-recent institutional abuse across the island of Ireland, a research project has suggested. The academics behind the new research said they had highlighted 'shortcomings in current legal and justice processes' such as inquiries and redress schemes. Advertisement The research was undertaken by Professor Anne-Marie McAlinden from Queen's University Belfast, Professor Marie Keenan from University College Dublin (UCD), and Dr James Gallen from Dublin City University (DCU). The issue of historical institutional abuses in multiple settings has led to several investigations and redress schemes in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland over a number of years. The research project involved interviews with 74 stakeholders, including survivors, legal professionals, and institutional (church and state) representatives. It also drew on international experiences of justice responses to non-recent institutional abuses such as inquiries, redress schemes and apologies. Advertisement The findings state that while conventional legal avenues such as inquiries and redress schemes are prevalent, they often 'fail to engage survivors meaningfully or address the systemic nature of the abuses'. The research proposes a new framework of justice to 'bridge the accountability gap and improve outcomes for victims and survivors by focusing on healing, truth-telling, and institutional reform'. It said that central to this new approach is 'increasing engagement between victim/survivors and institutional actors'. The research calls for reforms to legal culture; truth-seeking processes and redress. Advertisement Key findings and recommendations include: – The adoption of 'trauma-informed approaches' and the use of plain, non-legal language to make legal processes more accessible. – The transformation of 'truth-seeking processes via victim-centric approaches to inquiry design, modularised approaches to investigation which report findings sooner, and the consideration of alternative non-adversarial modes of truth-finding'. – Recognising redress as a right and pairing it with 'personal, meaningful apologies'. Advertisement Prof McAlinden from the School of Law at Queen's University said: 'This was a timely project which sought to examine one of the most important societal challenges of our time, how to deliver effective justice experiences as well as outcomes for victim/survivors of non-recent institutional abuses. 'There were high levels of engagement with the study by not only victim/survivors and advocates but also institutional actors and a clear appetite for doing justice differently. 'We hope that this research makes a significant contribution to these ongoing debates.' Professor Marie Keenan from the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice at UCD said: 'From the outset we were determined to include all voices and listen carefully to the lived experience of victim/survivors and responsible institutional actors in church and state; examine the temporal challenges involved in non-recent institutional abuses and how these contribute to the responsibility/accountability gap, and, analyse the potential for innovative justice thinking influenced by restorative and transitional justice philosophies. Advertisement 'We found there is an appetite for a new way and offer suggestions as to how this can be done.' Dr James Gallen from the School of Law and Government at DCU said: 'Addressing non-recent institutional abuses remains a pressing and ongoing challenge for societies globally. 'Several justice responses remain ongoing or in negotiations or proposals on the island of Ireland.' The full findings are published in a new book, Transforming Justice Responses To Non-recent Institutional Abuses. The three-year project was funded by the Higher Education Academy North-South Research Grant with support from the British Academy and an Arts And Humanities Research Council Fellowship.
