The Watch House Files: Detention centres full, children locked in Queensland's police watch houses

Updated

Murderers, paedophiles and drug addicts are held in maximum security police watch houses, but each year hundreds of children are also locked up in these same facilities.

Even for a hardened adult prisoner, a watch house is a scary place. For a child, it can be terrifying.

The concrete cells are designed to hold some of society's most dangerous criminals for short stays of around 48 hours.

But in Queensland, the two youth detention centres are full, so children are instead being sent to adult watch houses, where they're sometimes held for weeks.

Four Corners has obtained more than 500 files detailing cases of children who have spent time in Queensland's watch houses.

These files include issue reports and other correspondence from community visitors in the Office of the Public Guardian who met with child inmates between January 2018 and March 2019.

Fifty-two files refer to children aged 14 or under. Four Corners has also been told of cases of children as young as 10 being held in watch houses.

Girl, 12

Location: Brisbane City Watch House

This girl spent nine days alone in an observation cell at the Brisbane watch house dressed in a "suicide smock". She has a history of multiple suicide attempts and is subject to a child protection order.

The community visitor noted they were "extremely concerned about her wellbeing".

Community group Sisters Inside also visited the girl and reported that she was distressed and had been subject to harassment from boys in the watch house.

The girl requested shampoo and conditioner as she had long hair and hadn't been able to wash it for nine days.

Boy, 11



Location: Brisbane City Watch House

This young boy spent one night at the Brisbane watch house. He said he was only given one meal — cereal for breakfast.

He said police officers were nice to him. He told the community visitor he didn't want to return home as he did not feel safe there because he said his parents used ice.

Children held for weeks

Seventy-five files refer to children who spent 10 days or more in watch houses.

Two files refer to children who spent 33 days or more in a watch house.

Boy, aged under 14

Location: Mareeba, Cairns and Brisbane watch houses

A cache of emails sent over several months in 2018 refers to an Aboriginal boy, originally from far-north Queensland, who was held at the Mareeba, Cairns and Brisbane watch houses.

One email stated that the boy had spent 34 days in a watch house, and that he "has to be released… served too long".

Several emails noted that the boy was permanently unfit to plead and that an assessment by a psychologist found he had the cognitive function of someone younger than six years old.

Boy, age unknown

Location: Brisbane City Watch House

This boy told the community visitor he had been held alone in observation cells for 23 days at the Brisbane watch house. He was worried about his birthday being forgotten.

Girl, 16

Location: Brisbane City Watch House

This girl was held at the Brisbane watch house for 25 days and during that time she learned she was approximately 11 weeks pregnant.

The girl asked to be transferred out of the watch house so she could access proper pregnancy advice and consider her options.

She was later transferred to a youth detention centre.

Children in watch houses have no access to the outdoors and often their only exercise is 15 minutes in a four-walled pen with a mesh roof obscuring the sky above.

If a child is particularly aggressive or at risk of harming themselves, they can be forced to wear what's called a suicide smock and placed alone in a padded observation cell.

The files refer to at least one child who says they were held in these cells for weeks.

Many of the children mentioned in the files have intellectual disabilities and psychological issues.

Some are accused of committing serious crimes like assault and break and enter, while others are on remand or have been charged with minor offences.

Some are refused bail simply because they have no appropriate housing to go to, and so they end up in a watch house.

Girl, age unknown

Location: Brisbane City Watch House

This girl's finger was cut off by a door in the Brisbane watch house. The girl had followed another young person out of their pod. A pod is a group of two or three cells with a common area.

When the girl was returned to the pod, the door was shut and it cut off the top of her right middle finger. A nurse responded immediately and located the top of the finger.

The girl was taken to hospital in an ambulance where she underwent surgery to have the top of her finger re-attached.

Girl, age unknown

Location: Brisbane City Watch House

This young female was placed in a pod with two alleged male sex offenders.

Boy, 15

Location: Brisbane City Watch House

This boy attempted to hang himself. He was dressed in a suicide smock.

He was later taken to hospital for assessment.

Girl, 17

Location: Rockhampton Watch House

This file includes allegations a girl was given a tranquiliser, Xanax, laced with ice while inside the watch house. The girl's behaviours included "peeing and masturbating" in the watch house.

The file notes that after the girl was released she self-harmed and was later admitted to an adult mental health unit.

Boy, age unknown

Location: Brisbane City Watch House

This boy could not put weight on his left foot and had a badly swollen ankle. He said he had been shackled by the ankles when arrested and this had rubbed, causing swelling and now possibly an infection.

He said he felt very ill and wanted to see a doctor. He had been given cream from a nurse.

The boy was in an observation cell wearing a suicide smock. He said he had no access to his asthma puffer.

Boy, age unknown

Location: Brisbane City Watch House

This boy said his feet were cold and sore and asked for shoes or socks.

He said he would like to be able to brush his teeth and have a shower at night and he also requested more food.

Amnesty International has warned that holding children inside watch houses breaches international law.

Queensland's Public Guardian, Natalie Siegel-Brown, has repeatedly raised concerns with the State Government and tried to offer solutions to get children out of the state's watch houses.

"At the end of the day, this is a concrete pen, designed to hold adults in an acute and dangerous state for up to 48 hours," she said.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers says police are struggling to cope because they don't have the capability to care for the special needs of many of the children.

"They're stressed and tired, they're fatigued and they've simply had enough," he said.

"We don't have the support or the facilities to be able to properly house these young people who are in custody."

Queensland's Minister for Child Safety, Di Farmer, told Four Corners that the Government is planning to reduce the number of children in watch houses but for now, there's no alternative.

"If a magistrate has ordered for them to be in the watch house and we cannot, do not have any space in the detention centre, then there is no alternative for them," she said.

About the files

Four Corners obtained most of the files under Right to Information laws, and others from Amnesty International.

The files include hundreds of pages of "issue reports" and correspondence from the Office of the Public Guardian.

Sections of the files are redacted and not all include details like age or duration of stay in a watch house.

In some cases, there are multiple files relating to one child and there are multiple children mentioned in a single file.

Watch Mark Willacy's investigation, Inside the Watch House, on iview.

Credits

Reporter: Mark Willacy

Researcher: Naomi Selvaratnam

Design: Georgina Piper

Developer: Ri Liu

Digital Producer: Brigid Andersen

Producer: Peter Cronau

Topics: prisons-and-punishment, law-crime-and-justice, police, family-and-children, children, community-and-society, brisbane-4000, qld, australia, townsville-4810, cairns-4870, rockhampton-4700

First posted