Holding children in watch houses for extended periods, with unaddressed medical or mental health risks, could have '"catastrophic consequences", Queensland's youth detention watchdog says.
A report from the Queensland inspector of detention services - following inspections of watch houses at Cairns in January 2024 and Murgon in November 2023 - concluded both facilities were inadequate to hold children.
Cairns watch house was overcrowded and had no natural light in its cells or common areas, while at Murgon there was no access to fresh air, the report said.
Both watch houses lacked privacy for children.
"In the Cairns watch house, we saw children using their mattresses to surround themselves in an attempt to get privacy when using the toilet," the report said.
"We were advised that this is a common practice, and that children do the same at Murgon."
During the inspection, 10 of the 11 children held in Cairns were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
Murgon watch house was holding three children - all of them Indigenous.
The inspector raised concerns about the admission processes at both facilities, saying self-harm, suicide risks or significant health issues may not be identified when children are entering the watch houses.
"This would leave a child, who may subsequently spend many days or even weeks detained in the watch house, with unaddressed risks or medical needs," the report said.
"The consequences could be catastrophic."
In one case study in the report, a child admitted to Cairns watch house staff they had consumed methamphetamine in the 24 hours before their arrest, had a chest infection and had attempted self-harm within the past three months, including while in custody.
No further medical or mental health assessments were undertaken on the day they were admitted, and it was not until the eighth day the child was in custody they were seen by a nurse.
"By this time, they had complained of sore ribs, a blocked nose, fever and stomach cramps," the report said.
"When their condition had not improved by Day 13, the nurse administered medication that day and on the following four consecutive days."
Between January to October 2023, the longest stays at Murgon watch house were two boys aged 14 and 16, who spent 29 days in the facility.
The inspector identified one young person effectively being held in isolation for 12 days because they were the only child at the facility.
"The only activities the child was noted as engaging in were watching television and playing cards on their own," the report said.
Both facilities were inadequate for children, the report concluded, expressing concern about detaining young people in watch houses for any period, "let alone the kind of extended and long-term detention we witnessed at each of the watch houses".
But, with Queensland's youth detention centres often being full, the report noted it was "likely that children will continue to be detained in watch-houses in the foreseeable future".
"Based on the information in this report, it is clear that the detention of children in watch houses creates the risk of harm and that it should be avoided," the report said.
"If detained in a watch house, children should be held for the minimum time possible, and transferred to a more suitable facility as soon as possible."
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