Judge refuses to send 17-year-old to ‘horrendous’ Perth prison
Key points:
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A 17-year-old Perth boy has been released from custody for Christmas despite a serious crime spree
- Judge Quail said he was not sending the youth back to prison “because of the continuing failure of the Department
- He said the boy had had a “horrendous experience” and “endured unlawful solitary confinement” in punishment cells for long periods
A 17-year-old Perth boy has been released from custody for Christmas despite a serious crime spree, as the judge did not trust Perth’s “barbaric dungeon where children are deprived and dehumanised” to rehabilitate him.
The boy, who has anxiety, PTSD, FASD, ADHD, and substantially affected executive function and memory, has been in and out of Banksia Hill youth prison for the past two years.
He had spent Christmas 2021 and 2022 in prison, with lengthy stints in the Unit 18 wing of the adult Casuarina Prison, which has controversially been serving as an ad-hoc yet endless extension to Banksia Hill.
The boy faced serious charges accumulated over this time including 14 of stealing motor vehicles, 17 aggravated burglaries, two high-speed chases, and two of assaulting prison guards inside Banksia Hill (punching one and spitting at another). He pleaded guilty to all charges.
On December 20 Perth Children’s Court president Hylton Quail sentenced the youth to a 10-month conditional release order.
He will live with his mother and his four younger siblings, soon to be five, in a recently acquired state housing property, with a 7pm to 7am curfew unless he is with his mother.
“That Unit 18 continues as a barbaric dungeon where children are deprived and dehumanised is a disgrace.” – Judge Hylton Quail
He has also been disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for four cumulative nine-month periods.
Judge Quail said this offending would ordinarily have got a three-year sentence, backdated for time already served, but this was not appropriate now.
The boy’s incarceration
Judge Quail said he was not sending the youth back to prison “because of the continuing failure of the Department [of Justice] to comply with the law” regarding holding youths in solitary confinement in Unit 18.
He said it seemed inevitable the boy would be sent back to this unit and this would only increase his danger to the community.
“With boys as cognitively impaired, traumatised and damaged as [this], there will be setbacks in custody and in the community,” he said.
“The answer is not to further brutalise and alienate them, but to follow the model of care that the Department claims to be implementing but in Unit 18 is clearly not.
“That Unit 18 continues as a barbaric dungeon where children are deprived and dehumanised is a disgrace, and something as a community we should all be ashamed of.”
He said the boy had had a “horrendous experience” and “endured unlawful solitary confinement” in punishment cells for long periods – one stint of 70 days, one of eight days, one of 12 days, one of six days, many of these representing more than 22 hours a day in a cell.
He said these periods were “cruel and harsh conditions which were arbitrary and unlawfully punitive” and it was “frankly shocking” one of these periods was in the month immediately following a tragic death in the unit, in which the boy faced 23 days of 20 to 23-hour lockdowns in his cell in November leading into December 2023.
Judge Quail said deteriorating behaviour in prison in those conditions was “all but inevitable given his cognitive impairments”.
“Solitary confinement … is very damaging for a boy like [this] with his impairments, history of trauma and diagnoses,” he said.
“I’m not surprised now that [he] did not perform upon his release into the community.”
He said the government’s management of this boy was a “total failure” and represented “continuing unlawful and repeated conduct … bypassing the provisions of the Young Offenders Act in terms of dealing with behavioural matters.”
The boy’s past
His parents separated when he was five. His father, who has spent long stints in prison and is currently in prison, subjected him, his mother and his brother to verbal and physical violence.
Concerns were also raised about neglect, sexual abuse and emotional abuse. Several care placements traumatised him by separating him from his mother.
A report noted “early attachment disruption, transient itinerant living situations, exposure to parental drug and alcohol misuse, normalisation of criminal behaviour, domestic disturbances and interpersonal conflict from a very early age.”
An official report into his offending noticed it “tended to be impulsive, opportunistic and lacked planning. There was an increasing and regular access to drugs and negative peers.” It further noted “a high need for acceptance by his peers, which was felt to be a perpetuating factor in [his] risk-taking and criminal behaviours.”
The boy’s future
The judge noted the boy had prospects of connection to a local football team as he was a “pretty handy footballer”, to a job ready program, and to a landscaping and property maintenance course. He had a white card and barista skills and should be able to function well in society if properly supported.
He did not have an intellectual disability, despite his cognitive problems, and was a “smart boy”.
“There is some glimmer of hope in the community,” he said.
When the boy was able to attend school at Banksia Hill, his teacher had described him as receptive, motivated, hardworking, polite, respectful and positive.
Judge Quail questioned the boy’s mother on her plans.
“He’s not innocent … but I would love to have him home. And we would put in place – NDIS has been put in place,” she said.
She promised the judge his old friends didn’t know where they now lived, that she would do her utmost to prevent him seeing them, and would ring the police if he disobeyed.
“I’m scared if I let you out, you’re going to go and do more burglaries, steal a motor vehicle and kill somebody on the road,” the judge said to the young man in court.
“I want to change my life … I keep thinking of time inside. I don’t want to be in – I’m going to turn 18 next year. I don’t want to follow in my Dad’s footsteps,” the boy replied.
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