Mr. Love questions the Minister about measures to prevent youth suicide attempts at Unit 18. The Minister avoids specifics, citing operational matters and privacy, emphasizing the detainees' complex needs and dangerous behaviour.

AnsweredQoN 846Legislative Assembly
Asked
14 November 2023
Portfolio
Corrective Services

QuestionView source ↗

YOUTH SUICIDE — UNIT 18, CASUARINA PRISON
846. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Corrective Services:
I have a supplementary question. I will
simply restate the last part of my question, which has not been answered. Given reports of another boy being transferred to
hospital since the minister released that report, what are the practical measures being rolled out to ensure this tragic event does not occur again?

AnswerView source ↗

Juvenile detentions deal with
juveniles. We do not talk about specific cases and I cannot give the member any
specifics about individuals who might have gone from unit 18 to hospital, but
understand this. Juvenile detainees in Western Australian detention facilities
have been incarcerated because the courts deem them to be unsafe in the community. The ones in unit 18 are unsafe in that
cohort. They have been moved to a suitable environment to provide them with the safest and most secure environment
possible. They are there because of their behaviour being complex ,
challenging and very often violent and dangerous. They also regularly engage in
self-harm, whether they are in Banksia Hill Detention Centre or in unit 18 or
some other place outside detention. That is the nature of the cohort that we
are talking about; they are a damaged group of juveniles. They are very often
unpredictable and dangerous.
Mr R.S. Love : Okay, so what
are you putting in place to protect against this happening?
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
You have asked your supplementary.
Mr P. PAPALIA : I am not going
to tell the member when they are going from unit 18 or not. People inside
detention are managed by Corrective Services. It is an operational
matter. As is normally the case, details of individual juveniles and their
cases are not talked about in this place or in the public. That is not normal
practice.

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