Kids being velcro strapped to ‘safe mattress’ in Unit 18 at Perth prison
Key points:
- Guards in a juvenile prison are strapping teens to mattresses with velcro as a new restraint method, sparking outrage from parents and advocates
- The department defends the “Safe Mattress” as necessary for staff safety, but critics call it barbaric and fear harm to detainees
- Experts urge inquiry into the prison, citing lengthy lockdowns, excessive force, and concerns about detainee’s mental health
Names in this report have been changed for legal reasons*
Unit 18 staff have started strapping teenage detainees to a special mattress with velcro to allow guards a safe exit from their cells.
The new technique, using the ‘Safe Mattress’, is one of several restraint options replacing the now-banned ‘figure four’ hog-tie restraint but has been labelled barbaric by parents of detainees and advocates. The Department of Justice has defended its use.
Its exposure again highlights the profound issues faced at the notorious Unit 18 juvenile wing at Casuarina men’s prison where violent offenders put staff at risk but excessive force and lengthy lockdowns are condemned as breaches of human rights.
Anna’s* son Steve* was at the centre of the scandal that resulted in the figure four ban after footage of it being used on him as a 14-year-old was featured in a Four Corners investigation in November 2022.
Now back in Unit 18, Anna said Steve had been restrained to the mattress using velcro straps twice in the past two weeks.
“It’s a new thing that they’re doing now, they’re chaining them and dragging them to their cells and about 6 or 7 officers are practically on top of those boys and strapping them to the bed,” she said.
According to the department the Safe Mattress is placed in a non-compliant detainee’s cell before they are taken there. The mattress has short velcro straps that guards use to bind the detainee who can remove them with a free hand once staff have exited the cell.
Anna said the technique was barbaric, and she feared for her son’s safety after seeing him with grazes and bruises on his body during a recent visit.
She also claimed another boy had stitches pulled from his hand from an unrelated wound when he was being restrained using the technique.
The department denied any detainee has been injured using the Safe Mattress and, as of January 3, it had only been used three times.
Despite government assurances lockdown hours were improving in both Unit 18 and Banksia Hill, Anna said her son and other boys were still regularly being locked down for 23 hours which was feeding their aggression when staff tried to take them back to their cells.
“When they get out for that free time, they don’t want to go back in straightaway,” she said.
“The amount of force that they’re using just for them not to go back in themselves is just a joke. It is just getting right out of hand, and I’m frightened that there’s going to be another death there soon.”
Corrective Services Commissioner Brad Royce said the Safe Mattress was an approved restraint option that staff were trained in to allow them to exit a cell safely, but it was used with strict oversight.
“An officer remains at the cell door and coaches the young person through the removal process if required. The removal process takes a matter of seconds,” he said.
“As with all available restraints, the Safe Mattress is only used in limited circumstances and in accordance with the relevant legislation and strict departmental policies and procedures.
“Unit 18 is a challenging environment accommodating the most complex and violent offenders in the youth justice system.”
Youth detention expert and family advocate Gerry Georgatos likened the technique to those used in Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork Orange.
“Unit 18 has degenerated to a children’s gulag and the nation, our governments, state and federal, sit idly by while outdated practices are introduced,” he said.
Georgartos said the government needed to launch an inquiry or Royal Commission into Unit 18.
“Most of these impoverished children have disabilities and neurocognitive delays or impairments and instead of vital health screenings and specialist supports, odiously they’re locked nearly all day in grotesquely stir-crazy small cells, shackled at the ankles and wrists, and in recent days strapped to cell beds,” he said.
“Their sanity is at stake.”
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