7th October 2019
The Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA) has previously raised the issue of the management of Juvenile prisoners highlighting that Corrections must be the sole manager of prisoners irrespective of age, gender, ethnicity or any other physiological or social identity and be responsible for their safety, the safety of other prisoners and the security and the safety of staff. The restorative role must not supersede these responsibilities.
The plethora of prisoner advocates and other advisers and professionals that impose on the system, including the Courts, must only be an advisory input as none of these people are accountable for the impact of their imposition.
The latest outbreak of violence in the juvenile system could have been avoided if the advice the CAA provided the last time there was violence, was heeded.
See https://caainc.org.au/control-juvenile-detention-violence/
It was highlighted in the previous article that the decisions have to be made and actions taken in real-time because that is where the prisoners are, in the now.
It is doubtful that all the trouble was spontaneous from all the prisoners, and there had to be one or more catalysts before the major issue developing. Our proposal was that at the first act of disobedience or any breach of the rules of the facility, that prisoner must be moved out to adult prison. That may only be for a limited time.
Looking at the physical presence of some of those prisoners it is questionable as to why they were held in a juvenile facility in the first place, highlighting the folly of one size fits all age grading of juvenile prisoners.
Ivan Ray
CEO CAA