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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Written Off

Written Off seeks to detail the experiences of young people in Queensland’s justice system, where record numbers of children are being arrested and imprisoned

12 December 2023

  • A prison fence

    Queensland children in adult watch houses denied bail due to family circumstances

    Child protection watchdog finds reasons for opposing bail included intoxicated parents or lack of stable accommodation, with First Nations children particularly over-represented

28 August 2023

  • A blue sign at the entrance to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre

    Queensland government repeatedly ignored warnings two years ago of youth prison overcrowding

    More than 20 organisations issued warnings long before government’s ‘urgent’ move to override human rights protections for children on remand

26 August 2023

  • illustration of unhappy child detained in cell

    ‘I’ll never forget’: after 32 days without sunlight in a Queensland watch house, Nick’s hair was falling out

    At 17 years old, Nick spent more than a month under conditions likened to that of farm animals and in breach of his human rights. Here’s his story

25 August 2023

  • This week Queensland passed new legislation to suspend its own Human Rights Act and allow the indefinite detention of children in adult police watch houses.

    Strip searches and suicide attempts: the reality for children in Queensland watch houses

    Mental health episodes and other incidents requiring treatment are ‘frighteningly common’ among children held alongside adults

16 July 2023

  • Cleveland Youth Detention Centre. Townsville. Australia

    Senior prison official’s court testimony at odds with government spin on Queensland youth detention

    For months, the state government has defended conditions inside Cleveland, in the face of accounts by guards, judges and children documenting problematic practices

6 July 2023

  • Brisbane youth detention centre. A lack of staff has resulted in widespread and extended lockdowns of detention centres in Queensland, where children are routinely held in solitary confinement.

    Guards at Queensland youth detention centres walk off job due to ‘unsafe’ staff shortages

    Guards say children being kept in lockdown 80% of the time, with one prison short-staffed for 359 of 365 days last year

25 June 2023

  • Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville

    Five hundred days in solitary: Queensland teenager’s case ‘a major failure of our system’

    Exclusive: Staff shortages at Cleveland youth detention centre led to teenager being confined to his cell for more than 20 hours a day

18 June 2023

  • illustration of figure in jail cell

    More than 60% of staff at Queensland detention centre quit amid record influx of young people

    Use of solitary confinement due to chronic staffing shortages at Cleveland detention centre has detrimental effect on children, advocates say

16 June 2023

  • Infinite FA. Youth detention series, Ben Smee. Guardian Australia.

    ‘A crime not to go home’: 24-hour curfews forcing Queensland children to live with violent offenders

    An increasing number of young people have been made subject to harsh restrictions as part of their bail conditions

11 June 2023

  • Then Queensland youth justice minister Di Farmer addressing parliament

    Queensland youth justice minister denounced policies now spruiked as ‘toughest in the nation’

    Di Farmer told state parliament in 2019 the sorts of measures now championed by Labor would almost guarantee children would reoffend

8 June 2023

  • Scales Of Justice artwork.

    Innocent Queensland children pleading guilty to avoid harsh bail laws, lawyers say

    Many children on remand who may be exonerated or not sentenced are pleading guilty to escape long periods of detention

7 June 2023

  • An illustration of two children on a a bicycle in the headlights of a police vehicle against a blue and oppressive background

    Violent and vulnerable: Ricky, 14, has been to jail 15 times. In Queensland’s youth justice system, he lost hope

    Designated a ‘serious repeat offender’ by the state, Ricky has been written off by a conflicted, punitive and overwhelmed authority

6 June 2023

  • Written off: how Queensland's youth justice system is turbocharging reoffending rates – video

    Whistleblowers, judges and youth workers say children are leaving detention scarred, angry and more likely to commit further crime
  • An illustration showing a boy behind bars in the pages of a book titled 'Repeat Offenders Index'

    The 14-year-old ‘written off’ by Queensland’s youth justice system – Full Story podcast

    Ben Smee speaks to a 14-year-old on the ‘serious repeat offender’ index – a police blacklist disproportionately made up Indigenous young people – about life on the frontline of the state’s youth crime crackdown
  • Illustration of young man in a book that has the title Repeat Offenders Index

    ‘Set up to fail’: boy, 12, attempted suicide after Queensland police demanded rearrest at bush camp

    Exclusive: Twice in two years police intervention thwarted attempts to rehabilitate young serial offender

5 June 2023

  • Widespread and ongoing use of solitary confinement is further traumatising and criminalising young people in Townsville’s Cleveland youth detention centre, according to staff, youth workers and inmates.

    ‘Like Guantánamo’: the children locked in solitary for weeks at a time in Queensland youth prison

    Exclusive: Whistleblowers, judges and youth workers say children are leaving Townsville’s Cleveland youth detention centre scarred, angry and more likely to commit further crime
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