Solitary regime outrage

Judge urges investigation

A Queensland judge has called on government ministers to investigate the treatment of a 13year-old boy who was held in solitary confinement for all but 60 seconds a day while on remand.

Judge Alexander Horneman-wren said the boy had been subjected to the “harshest of conditions” with 11 of his 32 days in custody spent in confinement for 23 hours and 59 minutes a day.

The judge said the 60 seconds not in confinement appeared to be a “calculated contrivance” to avoid the mandatory obligation to report the practice to the Chief Executive. The treatment came to the attention of the courts when the boy, under the pseudonym Nathan, applied for bail in the Childrens Court of Queensland in March.

According to a decision published this week, the boy was charged on February 12 with six offences including unlawful use of a motor vehicle, dangerous operation of vehicle, evading police, and two enter premises offences.

The boy, from South East Queensland, was denied bail two days later on February 14 and remanded at the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville.

“On the evidence before me, on 11 of the 32 days in which he has been in detention, he has been, in effect, in what is usually called solitary confinement,” Judge Horneman-wren wrote.

He said the prison had an overnight lockdown for 12 hours putting the detainees in isolation but there was also a “separation regime”.”

“From what I understand from the material, that regime is usually invoked for the protection of the detained young person,” the judge said.

“There is, in that context, not a shred of evidence as to why Nathan would be detained for his protection.”

The judge said on 11 occasions, Nathan was separated for 11 hours and 59 minutes, meaning coupled with the 12hour confinement overnight, he spent just 60 seconds not on his own on those days.

“On its face, repeated separation for 11 hours and 59 minutes cannot be seen as anything other than the most calculated contrivance to avoid the oversight of the Chief Executive,” he wrote.

The Judge referred it to the responsible ministers”.

Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard said she was aware of the matters raised by Judge Horneman-wren.

“I have asked my department for advice on the issues raised by the court,” she said.

The court heard Nathan had expressed an intention to plead guilty to the offences as soon as possible but the courts had been unable to accommodate a sentence.

A prosecutor also revealed it was unlikely the Crown would push for him to be sentenced to detention for the offending.

The crown had opposed Nathan’s release, submitting he was on bail for other offending at the time of his arrest. He was granted bail with the judge finding his continued detention was not justified.