BackThe Victorian Ombudsman has tabled a report on the state’s youth justice facilities to give Parliament and the public an insight into recent events and to illustrate how the relevant oversight agencies are holding government to account.
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass said the Report on youth justice facilities at the Grevillea unit of Barwon Prison, Malmsbury and Parkville represents a continuation of the Ombudsman’s longstanding concerns into youth justice.
Youth justice has attracted considerable media and political attention in recent months amid a series of disturbances at the two previously existing juvenile justice facilities at Parkville and Malmsbury. Severe damage caused by young people during unrest at Parkville led the Victorian Government to gazette a new youth justice centre at the Grevillea Unit in Barwon prison.
The report identifies a shift in offending patterns by some young people held in juvenile justice facilities, with evidence from the Department of Health and Human Services describing the current cohort as: “ … more sophisticated, socially networked, calculated and callous offending, characterised by rapidly escalating levels of violence and disregard for authority and consequence.”
Another major theme emerging from Victorian Ombudsman enquiries – including visits to the three juvenile justice centres – is that extended lockdowns of young people are contributing to the tension that leads to disturbances.
“It is evident that this is affected by a toxic combination of staff shortages and increasing overcrowding. It is predictable that a regime of lockdowns for young people will create unrest, and equally predictable that more lockdowns will follow that unrest,” said Ms Glass.
Former Ombudsman George Brouwer tabled a report – Investigation into conditions at the Melbourne Youth Justice Precinct in 2010 that identified flaws within the Parkville facility.
“Among other things, the report noted design features such as a low roof-line allowing detainees to climb onto the roof and ill-placed staircases creating blind spots and posing a safety risk to detainees and staff,” said Ms Glass.
While noting that there had been a substantial response to the previous Ombudsman’s report, including the establishment of Parkville College, Ms Glass noted that the precinct itself still existed and young people were still able to climb onto the roof.
“The record is patchy – successive governments have failed to make the significant investment needed to address the long term issues that are increasingly apparent.
“There is no short-term fix to the serious problems affecting youth justice, which have their origins not only in ageing infrastructure but in the complex interplay of health and human services, education and the justice system.”
Source: Victorian Ombudsman, Australia
