Nearly 200 children have been locked in police station cells in Western Australia's Kimberley in the past three years, according to freedom of information documents.

The children, who were remanded in custody after being sentenced to detention in Perth, were held in police lockups in Broome and Kununurra while waiting to be flown to the city.

The documents revealed some of the 197 children spent two days in the cells.

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One 12-year-old boy from Kununurra, who cannot be identified, recalled spending time in the lockup with other children.

"They cried, they cried, they cried. I was sitting there watching them crying. It made me sad," he said.

Another child, 13, said many children ended up in police cells.

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"They go in the cell for acting stupid and mad around the streets, you know. I see demons in their body, doing all that stuff," the child said.

"Some, they end up in the station, locked up with the bars and padlocks and all that stuff."

Amnesty International Australia has condemned the practice, calling it a "key human rights issue for Australia".

The organisation's Tammy Solonec said Amnesty would launch a campaign in June to reduce the detention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia.

"Police lockups are made for adults, they're not made for children," Ms Solonec said.

"They're not suitable places to hold children and there needs to be alternatives.

"We believe that Aboriginal children, in fact any children, should not be held in police lockups."

Child Protection Minister says practice is a 'pragmatic solution'

West Australian Child Protection Minister Helen Morton defended the practice.

"It is a pragmatic solution to a very difficult problem to resolve," Ms Morton said.

"You've got very small numbers of children for very short periods of time who are at high risk to themselves and others.

"For their safety and protection this is a solution."

But Ms Solonec said that was not acceptable.

"Western Australia locks up more Indigenous children per capita than any other place in Australia," she said.

"It's a pretty scary thing for these children to go into an adult lockup."

The police effectively have their hands tied in this situation.

If a child from the Kimberley is sentenced by a magistrate to detention in Perth and remanded in custody, the only place they can be held while waiting for that transfer is the police lockup in Broome or Kununurra.

In a statement, WA Police confirmed the practice did occur in regional police stations.

"As there are no juvenile detention facilities in regional WA, detainees are held in police station lockups until transport can be arranged at the earliest possible opportunity," the statement said.

"These juvenile detainees are generally only held for short periods of time whilst those arrangements are made."

Broome diversionary program making headway, police say

In Broome, Superintendent Mick Sutherland said a diversionary education program was making headway.

Children were selected for the program because of their high rates of criminal offences.

"Back in 2010 I identified that there was a large group of children who were high offenders in the Broome sub-district," Superintendent Sutherland said.

"Around that, I thought it'd be good to have an alternative premises where the kids could go to school.

"They were identified of having committed well over 500 burglaries just in one year."

Superintendent Sutherland said the children and the broader community had benefited from the program.

"It's excellent for crime rates but they're only statistics," he said.

"This is a bigger picture. This is about actually getting the children self-esteem, reconnecting to their family and re-engaging into the education process."