End the cycle of harm in WA's Youth Justice System

image of End the cycle of harm in WA's Youth Justice System

On Friday 30 August, WA recorded its second ever child death in youth detention.

Two children have now lost their lives inside Western Australia’s failed youth justice system. They are the first recorded deaths in WA’s youth prisons.

And both have happened in just this last year.

Now more than ever, we need your support to end this injustice.

Since July 2022, the WA Government chose to incarcerate school-aged children inside Unit 18 – a wing inside maximum-security adult prison, Casuarina. Unit 18 has been universally condemned and described as a human rights violation.

The children in detention need change. The WA government must commit to a total overhaul of the youth justice system. That includes closing unit 18.

This must never happen again. Join us to demand better for children, and help us hold the WA Government to account.

On Friday 30 August, WA recorded its second ever child death in youth detention.

Two children have now lost their lives inside Western Australia’s failed youth justice system. They are the first recorded deaths in WA’s youth prisons.

And both have happened in just this last year.

Now more than ever, we need your support to end this injustice.

Since July 2022, the WA Government chose to incarcerate school-aged children inside Unit 18 – a wing inside maximum-security adult prison, Casuarina. Unit 18 has been universally condemned and described as a human rights violation.

The children in detention need change. The WA government must commit to a total overhaul of the youth justice system. That includes closing unit 18.

This must never happen again. Join us to demand better for children, and help us hold the WA Government to account.

Email your local MP: The WA Government needs to overhaul youth justice, now.

Find your local rep

Subject:

I am calling on you to commit to a total overhaul of the youth justice system. That includes closing Unit 18.

In 2022, a decision was made to send a number of children to an untested facility inside a maximum-security adult prison. Experts widely protested this move.

In 2023, after months of warning signs of a crisis, Unit 18 saw the devastating and preventable death of Cleveland Dodd. He was only 16 years old.

And in August 2024, WA recorded its second ever child death in youth detention. The death of a 17-year-old boy at Banksia Hill Detention Centre.

Today, there are still children languishing in an obviously harmful detention system, right here in Western Australia.

It is clear that the youth justice system in WA is not working.

I ask you to use your platform and voice to end this horrific policy and call for a total overhaul of the youth justice system and for Unit 18 to close.

I am calling for:
•	A plan and timeline for the immediate closure of Unit 18. Children will never belong in an adult maximum-security prison.
•	Trauma-informed, therapeutic support to be provided in detention in consultation with experts, experienced child services, and the Aboriginal community. 
•	A commitment to transformation of the entire youth justice system, to end the ongoing harm across our system.

I stand with experts who have offered alternatives and solutions to fix our ailing youth justice system. I encourage you to consider Social Reinvestment WA’s Blueprint for a Better Future: Paving the Way for Youth Justice Reform available as a pathway to a humane and effective system.

Two deaths is two deaths too many. This must never happen again.

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