A class-action lawsuit is being prepared against the state of Queensland and the Department of Youth Justice over the treatment of juveniles at youth detention centres.

This week legal firm Levitt Robinson announced it was preparing to launch action on behalf of detainees at Cleveland, Brisbane, West Moreton, Sir Leslie Wilson and John Oxley youth detention centres. 

The Sydney-based law firm also launched action against the WA government over the alleged unlawful treatment of juvenile detainees at Banksia Hill Detention Centre.

Firm partner Dana Levitt said the action would be based on what was considered the punitive and unlawful conditions of detention.

“This is about ensuring that legal standards are adhered to and that the purposes and goals of detention are realised, and that isn’t being done at the moment,” she said.

Dana Levitt says the action is being prepared on behalf of past and present detainees. (ABC News: Patrick Thomas)

The firm says it is aiming to seek compensation for detainees who were subjected to confinement due to staff shortages and their placement in an unhygienic cell, as well as a lack of access to running water or a working toilet.

The action will also aim to seek compensation for juvenile detainees left without access to services such as education, lack of access to meaningful out of cell time and a lack of psychosocial supports.

“Whether you’re an adult prisoner or a child there are certain minimum standards to which the state has to comply,” Ms Levitt said.

“Just because you’re in jail or youth detention doesn’t mean that the state can treat you however they want to treat you or, indeed, how they have to treat you because they don’t have enough staff working that day.”

Staff shortages and isolation

The firm’s action stems from the conditions at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville, which has long been plagued by reports of staff shortages and other issues.

In August last year, Queensland’s prison watchdog flagged human rights concerns at the centre.

During that visit, Inspector of Detention Services Anthony Reilly found children were frequently locked alone in their cells due to staffing shortages, or held in separation rooms with no toilet, bed or running water.

Last month Australian Workers’ Union northern district secretary Jim Wilson told the ABC he was hearing of severe, weekly staff shortages at the facility.

“We can’t run the centre at the moment properly with the number of staff that we have and the way things are going at the moment,” he said.

“We need to see some significant improvements and we need to see a genuine plan.”

He said understaffing at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre was putting workers at risk.

Levitt Robinson wants to speak to former or current detainees in five Queensland facilities. (ABC North Qld: Chloe Chomicki)

“When a young person is left in confinement for 23 hours a day they can become very volatile, so that makes them more dangerous to our staff,” Mr Wilson said.

“In our enterprise agreement currently there’s a designated ratio of no more than four young people per youth detention worker.

“Staff shortages are so bad it’s very difficult for that ratio to be met pretty regularly.”

Detainees asked to come forward

Ms Levitt said the firm was seeking to speak with people who had been in the five Queensland youth detention centres from 2005 onwards. 

“We’re really looking at everything that happens to a child when they’re in detention and considering them against the law that prescribes those minimum standards,” she said.

In December last year the Crisafulli government passed its flagship “adult crime, adult time” laws, which involve juveniles being tried as adults for offences such as murder, manslaughter and rape.

Ms Levitt said tougher penalties for young people were an ineffectual way of dealing with youth crime.

“It’s become incredibly clear that there is very little political will to address the causes of youth justice involved children — looking at why they end up committing crimes and looking to remediate those root causes,” she said.

Youth Justice and Victim Support Minister Laura Gerber did not respond to questions on the preparation of the class action.

She said the state government was making Queensland safer with stricter laws, more police, early intervention and rehabilitation.

“Labor created the Youth Crime Crisis and failed to build the infrastructure needed to arrest it,” she said.

“Under the Crisafulli government there are now more staff in our youth detention centres.”

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