Ashley’s secret failings

THE Ashley Youth Detention Centre has a scalable perimeter fence, fails to properly monitor CCTV footage and does not record phone calls of detainees, according to redacted parts of an inspection report.

The report was tabled in parliament this week and while attempts were made to conceal certain pieces of information, it was not done adequately and could be read.

In one redacted part, custodial inspector Richard Connock recommended changes to prevent detainees from escaping undetected.

“The perimeter fence would not prevent young people scaling it. It would only slow any attempt to do so,’’ he said.

“There are no detection systems on either side of the perimeter fence.”

Mr Connock said various locations on the fence were susceptible to people entering, and that contraband items could easily be hidden in farmland or thrown over the fence.

The report found the centre, near Deloraine, had about 70 CCTV cameras, but footage was often only reviewed after an incident.

“It is difficult to place cameras in all areas of any detention centre and it is unrealistic to expect that there will not be camera blind spots in some areas,’’ Mr Connock said.

“AYDC does not monitor its cameras on a regular basis and cannot therefore manage the risk associated with a blind spot.”

Mr Connock recommended authorities review monitoring practices.

Another redacted excerpt noted telephone calls made by youth detainees were not recorded, with the inspector recommending this be reviewed in the interests of safety.

Other key findings included that strip searches on children aged 10 to 18 in custody should no longer occur on a “routine basis”.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the failed redactions were “one of the most clumsy attempted cover-ups I’ve seen in my time in politics”.

“The redactions are clearly an attempt to cover up the worst of the failings of Ashley,’’ she said.

The Greens yesterday wrote to Commissioner for Children and Young People, Leanne McLean, urging her to investigate the centre.

The office of Human Services Minister Roger Jaensch, who tabled the report in parliament, was contacted for comment, but refused to do so.