Banksia Hill
Updated
Perth
Unit 18 staff member suspended over teenager’s death in custody
Cleveland Dodd, 16, died a week after attempting to take his own life inside a cell in Unit 18. Now an officer has been suspended pending further investigation.
- by Holly Thompson
Latest
‘They failed this boy’: Prisons watchdog lashes WA government over Unit 18 death
Inspector of Custodial Services Eamon Ryan warned care needed to be improved for the other youth detainees in the unit at Perth’s maximum-security adult men’s prison.
- by Hamish Hastie
Opinion
Detention centres
The uninterrupted failure of Banksia Hill – and what WA should do about it
We need respectable bedrooms for our neediest children, not grotesque stir-crazy jail cells, or we risk the next generation being even worse off than the current.
- by Gerry Georgatos
Updated
Deaths in custody
Family wants answers after boy dies following suicide attempt at notorious WA prison
The family of 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd has pleaded with the state to “act now, today” to prevent another youth dying needlessly and tragically in detention.
- by Hamish Hastie, Holly Thompson and Jesinta Burton
Minister admits notorious WA juvenile prison ‘unacceptable’, but says there’s no alternative
A letter has surfaced which flagged concerns for a teenage Aboriginal inmate two weeks before he attempted suicide at the Unit 18 youth wing of Casuarina Prison.
- by Jesinta Burton
Teenage prisoner rushed to hospital after incident at notorious WA juvenile prison
The Aboriginal prisoner has been rushed to hospital after he was found unconscious last night in the Unit 18 youth wing of Casuarina Prison.
- by Daile Cross, Heather McNeill and Hamish Hastie
‘You’ve known about staffing problems’: Disability royal commission lashes Banksia Hill excuses
Then-premier Mark McGowan took a hardline stance against detainees involved in riots at the facility. A scathing assessment in a royal commission report will increase pressure for a softer approach.
- by Hamish Hastie
Danny Hodgson’s attacker arrested again months after being released from prison early
Hodgson believes the justice system has failed him after the teenage boy who forever changed his life was freed from prison only to offend again months later.
- by Rebecca Peppiatt
Banksia Hill guards to get 12 per cent pay boost under new agreement
Guards at Western Australia’s only youth detention centre will get a 12 per cent pay rise in a bid to retain staff at the beleaguered facility.
- by Cameron Myles
Updated
Human rights
Solitary confinement of WA children at Banksia Hill illegal, Supreme Court rules
The court found the Department of Justice unlawfully locked three young people in their cells at Banksia Hill Detention Centre and Unit 18 inside an adult prison.
- by Daile Cross
Opinion
Juvenile justice
Want more staff at rat-infested Banksia Hill? Pay them more
A read of inspector Eamon Ryan’s report reveals staffing issues are ultimately at the heart of most of the issues in the facility, more staff means less time kids are locked in their cells and more opportunities for detainees to take part in rehabilitative programs.
- by Hamish Hastie