Banksia Hill riot: Minister blames ‘tactical failures’ after armed juveniles climbed onto roof for 17 hours

The unrest on the roof of Banskia Hill Detention Centre has come to an end after more than 17 hours, with the Cook Government blaming a “complex, challenging and sometimes violent” small cohort of youth offenders. The youngest was just 12. The incident started to unfold at the troubled facility about 3pm on Monday, with six juveniles climbing onto the roof armed with poles and throwing projectiles. Just before 8am on Tuesday, the Department of Justice confirmed the incident was “resolved”. “There were six individuals involved. Three of them came down during the night, and the remaining three came down this morning,” Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia said on Tuesday. “They are well known to Banksia Hill detention facility. All have been there before, a number of them have very serious offending records. “Three of them have been moved to Unit 18, the remaining three are being assessed by the multi-disciplinary team this morning.” He said the groups was out of their cells and in school, several of them at music lessons, when the trouble erupted. Six male detainees, aged 12 to 17, climbed the roof and were seen armed with a pole, crowbar and fire extinguisher — hurling debris at guards below. Multiple windows were smashed, and the boys were observed kicking at the roof and tearing apart air-conditioning units with long white poles. Mr Papalia said there were “tactical failures” but insisted the facility was fully staffed at the time, with just over 70 detainees. “Clearly there’s been some failures and I’ll be asking the Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner for Children to explain what occurred and what action has been taken to prevent re-occurence,” he said. The Minister didn’t respond to reports one detainee received a “distressing” phone call earlier in the day. He called the incident “disappointing” but denied it showed not enough has changed since a New Year’s Eve riot in 2022 caused millions of dollars worth of damage. “We are on target to achieve the Closing The Gap target for juvenile detention of Aboriginal youth,” Mr Papalia said. “The number of detainees over time is continuing to reduce. However, I believe there is always going to be, at the moment and subject to some remarkable change in interventions or change in societ, there’s always going to be a small number of people that have to be detained. “The nature of the individuals means they’re very likely to break rules”. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services was called to the facility overnight but no fire was detected. Banksia Hill Detention Centre — WA’s only youth detention facility — is a maximum-security centre holding boys and girls aged between 10 and 17. Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia on Monday 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 at 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.