❓ Mr. Love questions the Minister about closing Unit 18 after Jasper Unit upgrades. The Minister disagrees, citing improvements at both Banksia Hill and Unit 18, and the need to manage challenging detainees separately to maintain service delivery and safety.
AnsweredQoN 518Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
YOUTH DETENTION — UNIT 18, CASUARINA PRISON
518. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Corrective Services:
I have a supplementary question
related to unit 18. Does the minister agree that the unit could be shut down immediately upon the Jasper unit strengthening
works being completed, which is due, I understand, in a short while?
518. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Corrective Services:
I have a supplementary question
related to unit 18. Does the minister agree that the unit could be shut down immediately upon the Jasper unit strengthening
works being completed, which is due, I understand, in a short while?
AnswerView source ↗
No. The reason is that Banksia Hill
Detention Centre and unit 18 are significantly better than they were this time
last year. There have been extraordinary improvements in terms of out-of-cell
hours—it is between nine and a half and 11 hours on average at Banksia
Hill and something like over 6.5 hours on average at unit 18. Services are being delivered, interventions are being provided,
and guidance, mentoring and support are being afforded to the juvenile
detainees. I can tell members that today there are something like 56 juveniles
in detention in total in Western Australia. When the Leader of the Opposition
was in government, it was well in excess of 200. The juvenile detainees in Western
Australia are being delivered a far improved service and it is improving all
the time. That is for one reason alone at the outset, and that is because the
most challenging, complex and often violent individuals are being managed in a safer
way at unit 18. If we removed them from there and put them back into Banksia
Hill, we would compromise service delivery to both sets of detainees and put at
risk all the improvement that has been made.
Detention Centre and unit 18 are significantly better than they were this time
last year. There have been extraordinary improvements in terms of out-of-cell
hours—it is between nine and a half and 11 hours on average at Banksia
Hill and something like over 6.5 hours on average at unit 18. Services are being delivered, interventions are being provided,
and guidance, mentoring and support are being afforded to the juvenile
detainees. I can tell members that today there are something like 56 juveniles
in detention in total in Western Australia. When the Leader of the Opposition
was in government, it was well in excess of 200. The juvenile detainees in Western
Australia are being delivered a far improved service and it is improving all
the time. That is for one reason alone at the outset, and that is because the
most challenging, complex and often violent individuals are being managed in a safer
way at unit 18. If we removed them from there and put them back into Banksia
Hill, we would compromise service delivery to both sets of detainees and put at
risk all the improvement that has been made.
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