Unit 18 to remain open with replacement not available for three years
The controversial youth detention unit at Casuarina prison, Unit 18, will remain open for a further three years while the government builds its $147 million replacement next to Banksia Hill.
Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia and Corrective Services Commissioner Brad Royce unveiled final designs for the new facility, which will house the state’s most troubled and complex youth detainees, on Friday.
Artist impression of the new $100 million high-risk youth justice facility.
Papalia revealed the tender would be released next week, but it was likely the facility wouldn’t open until 2028 and Unit 18 would remain open until the new facility is complete.
The state converted the men’s wing Unit 18 at Casuarina into a youth detention facility in 2022 to remove disruptive young detainees from the Banksia Hill Detention Centre, but it has been plagued with issues since then.
It hit a crisis point when 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd self-harmed in his cell and died a week later – the first child to die in youth detention in WA.
Dodd’s death prompted calls for the facility to close, which the Cook government has agreed to do, but Papalia said it was not possible until the new facility opened.
“Until then, Unit 18 is the best place we have for them, and it’s regrettable that it’s not purpose-designed, but it is the best place we have for them,” he said.
“When it is able to be closed, we will close it, and that will be when we have this purpose-designed facility available.
“Ultimately, it’s a big project. It’s a complex one. It is partly why it’s taken this time to prepare the design, because it is a very complex, very specific build. It’s not something that you do every day of the week.“
