The Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services has made a submission to the Australian Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, for the inquiry examining Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system.

The short submission focusses on four of the six Terms of Reference:

• the outcomes and impacts of youth incarceration in jurisdictions across Australia
• the over-incarceration of First Nations children
• the degree of compliance and non-compliance by state, territory and federal prisons and detention centres with the human rights of children and young people in detention
• the benefits and need for enforceable national minimum standards for youth justice consistent with our international obligations.

The information provided in the submission has been informed by our knowledge within the Western Australian context, and more specifically within the custodial environments of Banksia Hill Detention Centre and Unit 18 at Casuarina Prison. While similar factors, issues and perspectives may cut across the national environment, our submission expressly relates to Western Australia.

Click here to read our submission in full.