'Unlawful and wrong' - solitary confinement and isolation of young people in Victorian prison and youth justice centres
Date posted:
Ambient music begins to play.
An opening slide fades from black, showing the cover image of the Victorian Ombudsman’s 2019 report: “OPCAT in Victoria: A thematic investigation of practices related to solitary confinement of children and young people”.
The image fades to a mid-shot of Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass seated at a desk in an office. She is speaking directly to camera.
Glass: This is my second investigation into Victorian detention facilities and how they measure up against a United Nations treaty known as OPCAT.
The shot fades to a world map, with colour indicating countries where OPCAT has been ratified, and the full name of the treaty below: “Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”.
Glass: Earlier this year we inspected three Victorian facilities, looking into practices that may lead or amount to solitary confinement of children and young people.
Glass: This is when they are isolated for 22 hours a day or more without meaningful human contact, as described in the United Nations standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners, known as the ‘Mandela rules’.
New text appears below the map: “Solitary confinement: 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact”.
The map fades back to the mid-shot of the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: The three facilities we inspected were: an adult private prison – Port Phillip, the Malmsbury Youth Justice Precinct, and two out of home care facilities known as Secure Welfare Services.
Three slides appear, each containing an image of one of these facilities and its name.
The slide fades back to the mid-shot of the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: Although young people over 18 are technically adults, up until the age of 25 young people are still developing physically, mentally and socially.
Glass: Research around the world confirms that solitary confinement can significantly damage their development.
A slide appears containing a vector illustration of a brain and the text:
“Children: 10-17 years
Young people: 18-24 years”.
New text then replaces it: “Sustained solitary confinement can harm young people”.
The slide fades back to the mid-shot of the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: In Victoria, legislation and procedures acknowledge that children and young people should be isolated only as a last resort and for the minimum time necessary.
Glass: What we found, was a difference between what the procedures say and what happens in practice.
A slide appears containing the text: “Findings”.
Glass: Of the three facilities we inspected, Port Phillip was particularly ill-equipped to deal with the challenging behaviour of young people who, because of their age, could also act in ways that are more irrational and volatile than adults.
A slide appears with a quote from a staff member at Port Phillip Prison [emphasis added]:
“The good order of the prison takes precedence over the mental wellbeing of the prisoner.”
A quote from a young person at Port Philip Prison then appears [emphasis added]:
“Once you get to the third day, it’s like, ‘f***, I need to talk to someone.' You end up talking to the TV.”
Another quote from a staff member at Port Phillip Prison appears [emphasis added]:
“Separation should be done more often and people with little knowledge of prisons should stay away.”
Glass: We found that young people were being separated at Port Phillip at a higher rate than older prisoners. They were also being separated in circumstances where there appeared to be little or no ongoing risk of harm to others.
The slide fades back to the mid-shot of the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: Victims of assaults were being separated for the same time as perpetrators – sometimes for months. Good behaviour didn’t appear to result in less separation.
Glass: At Malmsbury, we found a genuine commitment at many levels to the welfare of young people, yet we also found a high rate of isolation and limited understanding by staff of the dangers it poses.
A slide appears with a quote from a staff member at Malmsbury Youth Justice Precinct [emphasis added]:
“Empathy is important when engaging with clients that are separated or isolated.”
Glass: We saw unrest causing lockdowns, causing more unrest, causing more lockdowns.
Another quote from a staff member at Malmsbury Youth Justice Precinct appears [emphasis added]:
“There are constant lockdownsdue to understaffing. Due to lockdowns, it is hard to provide educationto the young men.”
Glass: We were also particularly concerned about the disproportionate use of behavioural isolation involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people.
A quote from an Aboriginal young person at Malmsbury Youth Justice Precinct appears [emphasis added]:
“[If I was the boss for a day] I’d have all Aboriginal fellas on their own unit.”
Glass: At Secure Welfare on the other hand, seclusion was used as a last resort and kept to a minimum, although the facilities were still bleak.
A quote from a child at Secure Welfare Services appears [emphasis added]:
“I hate it [seclusion] … Don’t leave me alone, it makes me feel like shit.”
Glass: Overall, we found a link between the use of isolation practices and the extent to which a facility recognised the harm caused by them.
A quote from a staff member at Secure Welfare Services appears [emphasis added]:
“I don’t think locking a child in a room helps anybody.”
The slide fades back to the mid-shot of the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: At one extreme was the comparatively therapeutic methods used at Secure Welfare. On the other hand, at Port Phillip, isolation appeared to be the preferred behavioural management tool rather than the exception.
A slide appears with a quote from a staff member at Port Phillip Prison [emphasis added]:
“It is becoming the norm to just separate and sort it out later.”
The slide fades back to the mid-shot of the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: We know there is no easy answer. Correctional facilities can be highly challenging and at times, dangerous places, both for staff and detainees. But isolation practices should not be the only tools available to respond to such behaviour.
Glass: I urge the government to review how young people are managed in the adult system.
A slide appears with a quote from the Ombudsman:
“We should ask ourselves: are we best served by a practice that promotes security over rehabilitation, and then provides neither?”
Glass: Where at all possible, young people should be moved out of mainstream prisons into a closed environment capable of addressing their behaviour in a way that does not make it worse.
The quote fades to the text: “Move young people out of mainstream Victorian prisons and prohibit solitary confinement”
Glass: The government is improving correctional facilities, yet a bigger cultural shift is still needed, including making more spaces therapeutic and focusing more on behavioural management techniques including mental health.
A new text slide appears: “Make spaces more therapeutic”, followed by another containing the following:
“Improve staff training with a focus on:
- behavioural management
- mental health
- de-escalation techniques
- cultural wellbeing.”
The slide fades back to the mid-shot of the Ombudsman speaking directly to camera.
Glass: It’s time to look beyond the tough on crime rhetoric to ask ourselves what will genuinely lead to safer communities and safer correctional facilities.
The ambient background music becomes louder. The shot fades to a slide containing a quote from a young adult prisoner in Port Phillip Prison:
“Do you know how hard that is, when the only person you’ve seen for the last nine months was yourself in the mirror?”
The slide fades back to the image of the report cover, with the text across: “Read the report: ombudsman.vic.gov.au/solitary-confinement-investigation”.
A series of closing slides appear containing acknowledgments:
“Many thanks to the Advisory Group of oversight bodies and civil society organisations who assisted in this investigation, including:
Commissioner for Children and Young People
Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People
Mental Health Complaints Commissioner
Health Complaints Commissioner
Disability Services Commissioner
Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner
Public Advocate
Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation
Human Rights Law Centre
Jesuit Social Services
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Services
RMIT University”.
The screen fades to black and the music fades to silence. End.
Children and young people in Victorian prisons and youth justice systems are being damaged rather than rehabilitated through excessive use of isolation and separation, Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has found.
During her inspection of three Victorian facilities – Port Phillip prison, Malmsbury Youth Justice Precinct and Secure Welfare Services – earlier this year, Ms Glass found practices that were incompatible with local and international human rights laws.
Tabling her inspection report in the Victorian Parliament today, Ms Glass said: “Legislation and official procedures acknowledge that children and young people should be isolated only as a last resort and for the minimum time necessary.
“But we found the procedures do not translate into practice.
“The direct impact is that many of the practices in both our youth justice and prison systems are likely to be contrary to law, incompatible with Victoria’s human rights legislation, oppressive, discriminatory or simply, wrong.”
At the adult Port Phillip prison – where there were about 170 young people aged 18-24 at the time of the inspection – Ms Glass found “an alarming number of instances of prolonged solitary confinement.
“In many cases we reviewed, the justification for separation seemed questionable and punitive,” she said.
“Young people were often separated for weeks in circumstances where there appeared to be little or no ongoing risk of harm to others; victims were separated for the same time as perpetrators; sometimes for months; and good behaviour did not appear to result in less separation.”
At Malmsbury, there were about 13,000 lockdowns (when a child or young person is isolated in the interests of ‘security of the centre’) during a 12-month period, with about 40 per cent attributed to staff shortages.
Ms Glass said it was disturbing to see a disproportionate use of isolation on Aboriginal young people, given it had been known for decades that Aboriginal prisoners subjected to solitary confinement suffer “extreme anxiety”.
Of the three facilities inspected, only the ‘out of home’ care provided by Secure Welfare Services at its Ascot Vale and Maribyrnong campuses appeared to use seclusion as a last resort.
“Comparing the three facilities, we found a direct correlation between the use and length of isolation practices, and the extent to which a facility recognised the harm caused by them,” Ms Glass said.
“The scientific evidence is compelling that young people, until around 25 years old, are still developing physically, mentally, neurologically and socially. It is why solitary confinement on children and young people poses such a serious risk of long-term harm.”
Ms Glass has made 27 recommendations to the state government, including that it legislatively prohibit solitary confinement, and review how young people are managed in the corrections system with a view to moving them out of mainstream Victorian prisons into a dedicated facility.
“It must be acknowledged that correctional facilities can be highly challenging and at times, dangerous places, both for detainees and staff.
“Children and young people can be irrational, volatile and unable to self-regulate, presenting behaviour that is more challenging and extreme than many adults.
“But it is time to look beyond the ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric to consider what will genuinely lead to safer communities and safer correctional facilities.
“We should ask ourselves: are we best served by a practice that promotes security over rehabilitation, and then provides neither?
“Smarter investment in both facilities and people should deliver far better returns than strengthened perimeter fencing.”
Ms Glass conducted her inspection against the rigorous standards of the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, known as OPCAT.
Australia ratified OPCAT in 2017 and postponed its obligation to establish a local inspection body for three years. In Victoria, this means the State Government will need to appoint its local inspection body or bodies by December 2020.
As part of her report tabled in Parliament, Ms Glass has recommended that her office, given its existing independence, jurisdiction and powers, be designated, supported by an Advisory Group of oversight bodies and civil society organisations.
In this investigation, she established and was greatly assisted by an Advisory Group including: the Public Advocate, the Commissioners for Children and Young People and for Aboriginal Children and Young People, Mental Health Complaints Commissioner, Health Complaints Commissioner, Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, Jesuit Social Services, Human Rights Law Centre, Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Services, Disability Services Commissioner, RMIT University and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission. In addition, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons in the UK seconded his Lead Inspector for children and young people to assist the thematic inspection.
Read the report: OPCAT in Victoria: A thematic investigation of practices related to solitary confinement of children and young people.
Media contact: 0409 936 235
Facts and Figures
- The Ombudsman’s inspection of Port Phillip prison, Malmsbury Youth Justice Precinct and Secure Welfare Services (Ascot Vale and Maribyrnong) occurred over a total of 12 days in March and April 2019.
- Solitary confinement is when a person is isolated for 22 hours a day or more without meaningful human contact, as described in the United Nations’ Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Mandela rules).
- The term ‘solitary confinement’ is not used in Victorian legislation. The practices in Victoria that may lead or amount to solitary confinement include ‘isolation’ (in youth justice), ‘seclusion’ (in secure welfare) and ‘separation’ (in prison).