Banksia Hill Detention Centre and Unit 18 at Casuarina Prison were last inspected in February 2023. That inspection found young people, staff, and a physical environment in acute crisis. As such, the Inspector made the unusual decision to produce his findings in a truncated and expedited report to focus on the immediate concerns challenging youth custody.
A second report was intended in the following months focusing on welfare and other supports available and accessible to the young people. However, this plan was undone by a major riot at Banksia Hill in May 2023. The riot resulted in significant infrastructure damage and was a further setback leading to restrictions to the daily regime that negatively affected the services expected to be considered in the second report. The situation deteriorated further culminating in the tragic suicide of a young person in October 2023. During this period, the intended objective of the second report could not be achieved with many services not consistently delivered.
However, throughout 2023 and 2024 this Office has continued to closely monitor service delivery and out of cell hours with regular visits and data monitoring, tracking and analysis. We visit most custodial facilities in Western Australia between three and six times per year. However, since our last inspection we have conducted 17 liaison visits to Banksia Hill and Unit 18, in addition to other forms of contact with the centres. Our Independent Visitors have also visited nine times since the last inspection providing a wealth of additional information for us through their role speaking to young people.
The number of young people in detention continues to trend downwards
Since the last inspection, the daily average number of young people at Banksia Hill and Unit 18 was 86, with 15 per cent of those placed at Unit 18. The overall figure continues to trend downwards with departmental data showing the daily averages slightly above 100 since the beginning of the decade and considerably higher before then. Over the last 10 years there has been a 54 per cent decrease in the youth custodial population (by 61 from 143 to 82).
A small fraction of this reduction can be explained by the transfer of young people to adult custody. In July 2023 amendments to the Young Offenders Act 1994 mandated the transition of a young person to prison within 30 days of their 18th birthday. Since the changes have been assented to (until 30 June 2024), 35 young people have transferred to prison from youth detention.
Despite the downward trend, Aboriginal young people continue to be considerably overrepresented in custody. Between January 2023 and June 2024, roughly 60 to 77 per cent of the population identified as First Nations. However, for those placed at Unit 18, the overrepresentation was starker with Aboriginal young people equating to between 58 and 93 per cent of that population. Much of the fluctuation can be explained due to the small number of young people placed at Unit 18.
The cost to keep young people in custody is immense
The cost of keeping a young person in detention has almost tripled since 2018-2019. In 2023-24 it cost $3,124 per day to hold one young person in custody. This equates to more than $1.1 million per year or roughly $93 million for the whole year where the daily average number of young people in custody was 82. The cost of keeping an adult in custody over a whole year has similarly risen since 2018-2019 from $108,000 to $140,000. However, this increase only equates to approximately 30 per cent.
Economies of scale are important to note here; there are many more adults in prison than young people in detention. Staffing ratios in youth custody are also considerably higher than in adult prisons. The immediate and ongoing needs of young people (including compulsory education) are similarly higher. Adding in repair costs for the extensive and frequent infrastructure damage at both Banksia Hill and Unit 18, and the costs from reform changes, it is understandable the cost per day has increased. However, by comparison, monitoring a young person in the community only costs $157 per day or $57,000 per year.