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A 16-year-old boy was held in conditions akin to solitary confinement in adult prison for 22 hours a day, leading him to have suicidal thoughts, a Victorian ombudsman report has revealed.
The report, tabled in parliament on Thursday, found the Department of Justice and Community Safety breached the teen’s human rights when transferring him from the Parkville Youth Justice Precinct to the maximum-security Melbourne Assessment Prison in early 2025.
The teen was transferred after he attacked staff, following two formal warnings he would be moved to an adult prison if his “violent behaviour” continued.
When he arrived at the adult prison he was separated from others due to his age, with records showing he spent an average of more than 22 hours in his cell each day for six weeks.
The ombudsman, Marlo Baragwanath, said the conditions “bordered on solitary confinement”.
The report described the cell as “cramped and worn”, with the boy telling the ombudsman he couldn’t see out of the window.
“I was shocked … if you’re in some type of environment like that, I guess you have no hope,” he said. “After a while, it starts playing with your mind.”
Even during his outside hours, he was confined to what the ombudsman described as “effectively a room that is open to the sky” and handcuffed due to his history of violence.
He ate his meals in his cell and drank straight from the tap, because a guard wouldn’t provide a cup.
“I was like … ‘I’m not a dog,’ you know. [The guard] was like, ‘Huh, you are, mate,’” the teen said.
He also had no in-person visits from family for the six weeks, telling the ombudsman he was told he wouldn’t be able to touch them: “If I see them, I want to touch them ‘cause, you know, that’s my family.”
The experience led him to suffer “dark, dark thoughts”.
“My cell was always dark. I can’t see anything,” he said. “It was playing with my mind. Started thinking stuff I’ve never thought before … a lot of self-harm … Suicidal stuff.”
Under Victorian law, a child aged 15 or older can be transferred to an adult prison as a last resort. However, the ombudsman found proper consideration was not given to the child’s human rights in making the transfer application.
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“I know many people will find it difficult to sympathise with a child who has been repeatedly violent towards youth justice staff. But human rights apply to everyone, including people accused or convicted of a crime,” Baragwanath said.
Tracy Beaton, Victoria’s principal commissioner at the Commission for Children and Young People, said “children’s human rights should never be an afterthought” and welcomed the ombudsman’s eight recommendations, including to ban the transfer of children into adult prisons, though it was rejected by the government.
Mindy Sotiri, the executive director of the Justice Reform Initiative, said the report was “indicative of a system that is failing”.
“Quite aside from the harm that is caused to children in these circumstances, this approach does absolutely nothing to rehabilitate that child or reduce the risk of them reoffending,” Sotiri said.
The Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe said: “Children need love and care and support. When we know that it costs over a million dollars to lock up a child, that money could be better in the wraparound services that actually make a child well.”
The Victorian Greens justice spokesperson, Katherine Copsey, described the report as an “indictment” of the Labor government, who last year introduced “adult time for violent crime” laws in response to rising youth offending.
The Victorian Liberal spokesperson for youth justice, Renee Heath, said Labor was “failing at both ends of the youth justice system” – pointing to an audit released on Wednesday that found there was no evidence the government’s $40m crime prevention program was working.
According to the ombudsman, the teen was transferred back to an adult prison after he turned 18 and was no longer separated for safety.
