AUSTRALIA
Detention centre crisis forces juveniles into adult jails
Young offenders have been sleeping in the gym at a detention centre because of chronic overcrowding in the juvenile justice system, Children's Court magistrates have been told.
As lawyers start legal challenges to stop juveniles from being moved into the adult system to ease the crush, the Department of Juvenile Justice revealed numbers reached crisis point two months ago. At the height of the problem, there were more than 70 more offenders a day in detention centres than the average of 331. Up to 30 have been moved or are being considered for adult prisons, despite court orders designed to keep them in the juvenile system until the age of 21 because of special circumstances.
Deputy senior public defender Andrew Haesler SC attributed the overcrowding to a police crackdown on juvenile offenders and new laws that blocked repeat bail applications. "The Government has a responsibility to all juvenile detainees," said Mr Haesler in an article for the Children's Court's newsletter.
He said the Government was aware of the impact when it passed the new bail laws in February. "It has accepted this responsibility and was aware demands would be made on detention facilities when it passed the new laws," he said. "It cannot now escape its failure to provide adequate resources by making vulnerable young people bear the burden of its failures."
Mr Haesler told the magistrates he had been told "children are sleeping in the gymnasium at (Frank) Baxter Detention Centre and sharing cells designed for one".
Solicitor June Irwin from the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre said some young men being considered for transfer into adult jails were coming up for their release and the move could undo all the good work achieved in the juvenile system.
The Department of Juvenile Justice yesterday denied anyone slept in the gym at the Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre at West Gosford but a spokeswoman said numbers in the system reached "a critical period" in April and May and this year there were regularly more than 400 offenders a day in the system. "The overall increase in detainee numbers is due to increased enforcement of bail conditions by police and tougher bail laws," the spokeswoman said, insisting numbers had stabilised since the peak.
The Government is providing an extra 57 places with a new detention centre at Dubbo and the expansion of Wagga Wagga and Grafton.
A spokeswoman for Juvenile Justice Minister Barbara Perry said the vast majority of new detainees who had come into the centres recently were on remand and their median stay was for two days or less. She said they had taken on more staff, with 160 new youth officers trained this year so far. "The Department of Juvenile Justice remains extremely committed to the delivery of a wide range of rehabilitation programs," she said.
Janet Fife-Yeomans
23 July, 2008
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24061360-5006009,00.html