Banksia Hill Detention Centre incident: Multiple detainees on roof, throwing projectiles at guards

A riot involving half a dozen inmates has unfolded at Banksia Hill Detention Centre, with inmates seen climbing onto the roof and throwing projectiles at prison guards while armed with poles. The Department of Justice confirmed they were responding to the violent incident after multiple youth detainees climbed onto the roof of the Canning Vale facility on Monday afternoon. “Corrective Service officers are responding to an incident at Banksia Hill Detention Centre involving a group of young people,” a Department spokesperson said. “Officers are working to resolve the situation safely.” At least six male detainees could be seen on the roof — armed with a pole, crowbar and fire extinguisher — throwing debris at guards below. Multiple windows were smashed, with the boys also observed kicking and tearing the roof with long white poles. Banksia Hill Detention Centre — WA’s only youth detention facility — is a maximum-security facility that holds boys and girls aged between 10 and 17 years old. Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia condemned the incident, saying “violent and disruptive behaviour is unacceptable”. “It shows the challenging task confronted by our youth custodial officers and reaffirms the need for a purpose-designed facility to house the State’s most high-risk youth, as announced by our government last week,” he said. It comes just days after the State Government announced a $147 million boost to fund the construction of a new youth detention centre to replace Unit 18. The $158 million facility — which is not expected to open until late 2028 — will house some of WA’s most “complex, challenging and violent” juvenile detainees who are currently being accommodated Casuarina Prison’s notorious Unit 18. But Shadow Corrective Services Minister Adam Hort said WA needed a new youth rehabilitation centre “yesterday”, and slammed the State Government’s mismanagement of youth detention and rehabilitation as a “failure”. “Detention is critical for community safety and turning young lives around, but it only works when the system works, and right now it doesn’t,” he said on Monday. “We are now seeing the same behaviours that caused the tens of millions of dollars in damage at Banksia Hill in 2022 and led to the creation of Unit 18. “This new facility was supposed to fix these failures. That is why we have been calling for it and why its delivery is urgent. “Taking more than half a decade to deliver the solution our system needs shows how little priority they have given to community safety and to genuine rehabilitation.” In May 2023, nearly 50 detainees at Banksia Hill Detention Centre were involved in a 12-hour stand-off after breaking out of their cells, climbing onto the roof, lighting fires and throwing projectiles at prison staff and police. The riot ended the following morning when the inmates were detained after being held at gunpoint.