Banksia Hill death: Teenager who took own life in jail had only just been released from Unit 18

The troubled teenager who became the second youth to take their own life in the State’s crisis-plagued juvenile detention system had only been released from the notorious Unit 18 two weeks ago, it can be revealed.

The Sunday Times understands the 17-year-old had been granted bail on strict conditions that he reside at a specialised drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre after expressing he could no longer stay at the unit based at Casuarina Prison.

One of those conditions was that he remain at the centre, but it is understood he absconded before being picked up by authorities and taken to Banksia Hill Detention Centre on Tuesday. Forty-eight hours later, he died.

News of the teen’s death prompted public outcry and calls for an “urgent inquiry” into why WA’s young people were choosing to take their own lives while locked up in detention, as well as calls for Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia to resign over his handling of the portfolio.

The shocking revelations come as the State Government departments involved continue to be tight-lipped about the details surrounding his case.

Greens Senator Dorinda Cox called for federal intervention to overhaul WA’s juvenile justice system. She said it was Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s responsibility to step in because of “the incompetence, the negligence and the failure of this (State) Government”.

“As the Prime Minister, it is his role to make sure that his States and Territories are doing the job that they’re tasked to do, that they’re funded to do,” Ms Cox told reporters on Saturday.

“And if the Prime Minister is not across this before he flies into Perth tomorrow, he should get across this.

“This is a serious issue where we now see two children’s lives being lost in State custody, and it is his responsibility to ask questions of this Government about why this is happening.”

In a scathing indictment of the WA justice system, Ms Cox said “we can build a stadium in this State quicker than we can fix Banksia Hill”.

“And so I don’t think it’s sufficient that this State Government says ‘We can’t do this. We are waiting for repairs’. That’s not sufficient, and it’s just not an answer.”

Premier Roger Cook on Friday described the boy’s death as a “horrible, horrible event” but sparked anger by saying he had “more confidence than ever before” in how WA was managing youth justice, despite also admitting the system was “not good enough”.

Corrective Services commissioner Brad Royce — who was brought in to fix the State’s juvenile justice system following the death of Cleveland Dodd in Unit 18 10 months ago — confirmed the boy had arrived at Banksia Hill affected by alcohol and drugs on Tuesday.

He said the teen was placed in the intensive supervision unit where he was monitored before being moved to the Turner unit in the general population mid-Thursday.

Mr Royce said there were no concerns about his mental health at the time but said the teen did make a call from his in-cell intercom two hours before he was discovered, calling it an “innocuous request”.

He said all staff had been wearing radios at the time and that the boy was checked on 10 times before being discovered unresponsive on the 11th check, and that there was no CCTV in his cell.

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