Lead

Three teenage boys held in a Queensland police watch house were subjected to conditions that breached their human rights, a tribunal has found. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) ruled that the state government violated the rights of the three boys, aged between 13 and 17 at the time, who were detained at the Cairns watch house for periods of several days in 2021 and 2022.

Coverage Comparison

ABC Australia and The Guardian both reported on the tribunal's findings, which were published on Monday. ABC Australia highlighted that a youth advocate says conditions in police watch houses have not improved since the boys were held, while The Guardian emphasised the tribunal's condemnation of the conditions as a breach of human rights law. Both outlets detailed the specific ways in which the children's rights were violated.

Key Claims

QCAT found that the children were held in cells with limited privacy and had to use the toilet in front of others. According to The Guardian, the children were required to use the toilet in front of other children and on CCTV camera within earshot of "screaming" adults. The tribunal also found that one child's detention in a padded cell for over an hour was "not compatible" with his human rights, as reported by ABC Australia. The Guardian further reported that one child was made to wear an anti-suicide smock and was detained in a padded cell, with another 13-year-old placed in a padded cell as punishment for banging on his cell door after 8.30pm.

The tribunal accepted that the children had a lack of education materials, limited access to an exercise yard, and less-than-daily changes of clothing. ABC Australia reported that the detention cells were unhygienic and had no windows or natural light, and the children were held too close to adult detainees. The Guardian similarly noted that the children were detained in cells with no natural light, with one child describing their detention as "like being in a closed brick box." The Guardian also reported that a child was verbally threatened by a watch house officer, quoting the officer's abusive remarks after the child was told of a person's death.

ABC Australia reported that QCAT dismissed the applicants' claims of indirect discrimination, but ordered the state to issue apologies to the applicants. The Guardian confirmed that QCAT ordered the state to apologise.

Perspectives

Katherine Hayes, chief executive of the Youth Advocacy Centre, told ABC Australia that the findings were "unsurprising" and that the conditions are "replicated" across Queensland watch houses daily. She said the four detention centres in Queensland are "all operating beyond safe capacity at the moment." Hayes noted that advocates were able to confirm the conditions, including that children are put in cells together during busy periods, because a Cairns-based worker checks on youth held at the watch house each day.

The Queensland government has not yet publicly responded to the tribunal's findings in the material provided.