Some Queensland teenagers ‘welcoming’ time in youth detention centres

Some Queensland teenagers ‘welcoming’ time in youth detention centres
More time behind bars is commonly touted as an answer to the youth crime disaster gripping Queensland.
But removed from deterring would-be offenders, some teenagers are literally welcoming time in youth detention.

The state has three youth detention centres, that are house to the worst underage offenders, together with serial automotive thieves, house invaders, violent offenders and killers.

9News has been told each junior inmate spends up to 13 hours a day in an individual cell furnished with a bed, desk, shower and toilet.
9News has been instructed every junior inmate spends as much as 13 hours a day in a person cell furnished with a mattress, desk, bathe and bathroom. (9)

There are serial automotive thieves, house invaders, these responsible of violent crimes and even killers.

9News has been instructed every junior inmate spends as much as 13 hours a day in a person cell furnished with a mattress, desk, bathe and bathroom.

They can go the time studying, writing or watching their very own private TV.

They get three sq. meals and each day schooling.

School courses behind bars and different classes are all geared toward diverting youths away from a lifetime of crime.

“They’re literally told when they can and can’t do anything. (It’s) heavily structured,” youth detention director Michael Drane stated.

“The biggest impact on re-offending behaviour is to give them skills to enter a productive life path,” Youth Advocacy Centre CEO Katherine Hayes stated.

The common age inside is 16 however with the numeracy and literacy ranges of an eight-year-old.

Youth detention director Michael Drane.
Youth detention director Michael Drane. (9News)

“It’s not unusual for them to achieve years of attainment in the space of months, so intensive is that program,” Drane stated.

There are chores like cleansing however there isn’t any arduous labour concerned. Instead, there’s train and recreation.

“Normal adolescents, as you can imagine, need to burn off some energy,” Drane stated.

“So there might be some touch football games or some basketball games but that’s really the extent of it.”

However, with a statewide scarcity of jail employees, there’s typically extra time alone.

“The centres are not fully staffed on a regular basis,” Hayes stated.

“When that happens they go into lockdown and stay in their cells and do not receive education.”

Once launched, 80 per cent of youngsters are again within the system inside 12 months.

“We need to ask some very difficult questions,” Professor Tamara Walsh stated.

“What is it about a detention centre that is better than life on the outside?

“They have three meals a day, they’ve their very own mattress.

“These are things many of them don’t have on the outside.”

Experts stated analysis has proven entry to protected lodging, well being care and schooling on the skin dramatically reduces cases of repeat offending.

“If we want children to stop committing offences, we need to provide them with their basic needs,” Walsh stated.

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Source: www.9news.com.au