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Barwon prison unlawful place to keep teens in detention, court rules

The detention of teenagers at Victoria's maximum security adult prison has been ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.

The detention of teenagers at Victoria's maximum security adult prison has been ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court. Photo: ABC

The detention of teenagers at Victoria’s maximum security adult prison has been ruled unlawful for a second time by the Supreme Court.

Justice John Dixon found transferring and holding teenagers at an adult prison infringes on their human rights.

Justice Dixon said the children were often held in lock-down for up to 23 hours a day, and had been handcuffed when released from their cells.

Human rights lawyers took the Government to court on behalf of 15 boys, aged 16 and 17, who are being detained at the hastily set up youth justice centre in the Grevillea Unit inside Barwon prison.

The teenagers were transferred to the adult prison last November after riots at the Parkville Youth Justice Centre destroyed accommodation.

The Victorian Government lost an initial Supreme Court case against detaining teenagers at the adult prison last December but re-classified the unit so it could remain open.

It prompted a second legal challenge by the Human Rights Law Centre, which argued the Grevillea unit was fundamentally unfit to accommodate teenagers and could not meet their human rights under law.

Ahead of the judgement, lawyer Alina Leikin from the Human Rights Law Centre said the case had led to fewer children being detained at Barwon and improvements to the worst conditions at the prison.

“This case has shone a spotlight on the harmful conditions at Barwon and the Government has scrambled to fix what it could,” she said.

The Victorian Government would not comment ahead of the ruling being handed down.

During the hearing, Ian Freckleton QC told the court that the unit could never be fit to hold young people who currently have no access to a registered school and are regularly being held in isolation.

“A place that retains the attributes of a … maximum security adult prison cannot be a place … that complies with the unique set of rights that children on remand and in detention hold under the act,” he told the hearing.

The teenagers being held at the unit are all on remand, awaiting court proceedings.

Dr Freckleton told the hearing they were being overseen by adult prison guards who did not have the relevant experience to deal with vulnerable teenagers with complex needs.

But lawyers representing the Victorian Government had argued the facility was the best option to accommodate the teenagers after secure units were damaged at Parkville.

Richard Niall QC told the court that housing the teenagers elsewhere would have resulted in increased use of isolation and severe overcrowding.

The Victorian Government did take into account the teenagers’ best interests and human rights, he told the trial.

During the trial, the Supreme Court released the first publicly-available footage from inside the unit which showed teenagers being capsicum-sprayed during a disturbance which is now under investigation.

– ABC

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