Children to remain at Barwon Prison despite court order to remove them

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This was published 7 years ago

Children to remain at Barwon Prison despite court order to remove them

By Jane Lee and Benjamin Preiss
Updated

Children facing criminal charges will remain at the adult maximum-security Barwon Prison despite Victoria's highest court ordering the state to remove them.

The Andrews government has re-classified the prison's Grevillea unit as a youth justice and remand centre in a bid to maintain that it is a lawful place to hold the teen inmates in custody.

The children's legal team is expected to take the state back to the Supreme Court as early as Friday to challenge its latest move, in a growing political headache for the Andrews government's tough-on-crime response to youth crime.

The move comes after the Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a ruling that Children's Minister Jenny Mikakos had unlawfully failed to consider the inmates' legal rights when she declared the unit a youth justice and remand centre last month.

There will be no young inmates at the Grevillea unit at Barwon Prison from today.

There will be no young inmates at the Grevillea unit at Barwon Prison from today.Credit: Angela Wylie

The 12 teenagers who are being held at Barwon Prison are among dozens who were transferred from three youth detention centres following last month's riot at Parkville youth justice precinct, which the government claims destroyed half of its accommodation.

The children's lawyers say they have been held in solitary confinement for extended periods, threatened with tear gas and given no proper schooling.

The court gave the state until 4pm on Friday to move the children to youth justice or remand centres.

But on Thursday the government issued a notice re-designating the Grevillea Unit as a youth justice and remand centre in the government gazette, with Ms Mikakos saying by doing so the court's concerns had been addressed.

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The move aims to correct an administrative bungle that resulted in the government losing two complex legal battles to free the children from the adult prison.

Ms Mikakos said: "Barwon Prison's Grevillea Unit is safe, secure and is functioning appropriately as a youth justice and remand centre."

She said "significant work" had gone into establishing services at Grevillea for the youths, including education and health services and a separate visitors centre.

The Human Rights Law Centre's Ruth Barson said the government's move showed the "utmost bad faith" following the court's decision and that it should move the children from the unit.

"The government can change the name of Barwon adult jail but it doesn't change the facts," she said. "The state's most notorious prison remains unfit for children. No doubt our clients will be deeply upset by this unparalleled move."

Fairfax Media understands that despite the reclassification, the children's lawyers could still challenge whether the Grevillea Unit complies with the Victorian human rights charter and whether the state is upholding its legal duties to the children in detention, including providing for their educational physical and cultural development.

The Supreme Court ruled last week that the government failed to properly consider the children's human rights when it initially established the youth justice centre at the Grevillea Unit. The Court of Appeal will decide on this point at a later date.

Government ministers have suggested that all the children were involved in the Parkville riot, yet the children's lawyers dispute this. The Human Rights Law Centre's executive director Hugh de Kretser said that some of the children were not at Parkville when the riot occurred.

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He said at least one of the inmates was free in the community when he or she was arrested and remanded directly to the prison.

Most of the children at Barwon Prison are awaiting court hearings for criminal charges.

In a separate case earlier this month, Supreme Court Justice James Elliott ruled that a young inmate's human rights were breached at the Grevillea unit. Justice Elliott is expected to visit the prison before deciding the teenager's bail application.

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