Cells are ‘no place’ for New Zealand’s youth

Young people are spending longer in police cells, prompting Amnesty International to alert the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

The average time New Zealand youth spent in police cells increased to 2.6 days in 2018, up from 1.8 days in 2014, according to Oranga Tamariki.

Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said the legislation allowing youths to be remanded in custody had been ‘‘an enduring blight on our criminal justice system since 1989’’.

While youths were in police cells, they would ‘‘almost certainly’’ experience solitary confinement, were likely to experience poor hygiene facilities, inadequate food, round-the-clock lighting, and have limited access to appropriate support, Becroft said. ‘‘Being held in a police cell for extended periods can quickly lead to physical, mental, and emotional harm, and a real risk of self-harm.’’

At New Zealand’s universal periodic review before the UN Human Rights Committee early next year, Amnesty International wants to recommend legislation be amended to remove the option to remand a young person in custody. All parties said putting youths in cells was not the right approach. ‘‘Detention in a police cell for multiple nights is no place for a child,’’ said Annaliese Johnston of Amnesty International NZ. ‘‘It’s unacceptable that so many are spending several days in police cells, particularly before they have even been found guilty of an offence.’’

Phil Dinham, acting deputy chief executive of youth justice at Oranga Tamariki, said the ministry operated ‘‘within the legislation that is currently applied in New Zealand, which allows police to place a young person in a police cell for more than 24 hours’’. However, the ministry acknowledged police cells were not the right place for rangatahi (youth). Superintendent Chris Scahill, national manager of response and operations, said police recognised it was ‘‘not appropriate for young people to be held in cells’’.

Dinham said: ‘‘A major aim of Oranga Tamariki is to reduce the time young people spend in police cells and to create more options in the community but it’s not just about making more youth justice beds available.’’

New Zealand’s international obligations require people under 18 to be detained only in exceptional circumstances, with the the right to be held in an appropriate custodial environment – a child’s best interests and welfare must be a paramount consideration. Becroft said solitary confinement of youth in an adult cell ‘‘patently and unarguably breaches the UN convention’’.

Lack of beds in youth justice residences has been cited as one of the main reasons behind the high figures. The option to remand youths in cells was a short term, temporary option when it was introduced but it was never removed, Becroft said.

Previously, numbers have been worse than they are now.

The-then Child, Youth and Family drove the numbers down by developing community-based options and good, well-supervised community remand homes with a supervised bail option. ‘‘The problem is ... people take the foot off the pedal, and numbers creep up again,’’ Becroft said.

The number of custody spells involving young people for more than 24 hours rose from 62 in June 2014 to 165 in March 2018, after reaching a peak of 284 in June 2017.

Dinham said the ministry was increasing its capacity for community remand and in the past year had created 20 remand community beds, with plans for 80 more. When youths were placed in police cells, the ministry kept in contact with them, checking their health, providing support and maintaining contact with their whanau, as well as working to get more appropriate placement.

‘‘A police cell ... is no place for a child.’’ Annaliese Johnston Amnesty International NZ