TRANSCRIPT
It's August 2023.
A 13 year old girl with a severe intellectual disability has just been put into an isolation cell in a Queensland police watchhouse.
The girl was brought into isolation after throwing toilet paper at a CCTV camera.
The box has no windows and is freezing cold.
POLICE: "Get on the ground."
SAM: "I was just sitting there you c***.
Sam** has the mental capacity of a kindergarten child, the language skills of a 3-year-old - and has been deemed unfit to stand trial in court.
Video obtained after a year long investigation between Guardian Australia and SBS The Feed shows the girl becomes increasingly distressed after being brought to the isolation cell – known as the box - and tries to get out multiple times.
On the 4th attempt the door is shut on her arm.
(SCREAM) "It really hurts."
Sam is one of thousands of children who come through Queensland's youth justice system every year.
Figures show that Queensland locks up more children than anywhere else in Australia.
Some say it’s because the state is in the grip of a youth crime crisis.
Marcelo and his family were sleeping when a group of teenagers, some armed with knives, stole two cars from his Gold Coast home.
"We were sleeping, right. It was quite early and my wife heard a very loud bang... What we saw on CCTV camera that was really terrifying for us. We saw a large group of offenders armed with knives around the house ."
But data shows the youth crime rates are actually going down - and it’s a small group who are committing crimes and reoffending.
Advocates say some of the children being put into watch-houses are among the most vulnerable - many with disabilities, like Sam.
It’s against the law in Queensland to identify children who’ve been before the juvenile justice system, but what we can tell you is that Sam is severely affected by foetal alcohol spectrum disorder or FASD – an intellectual disability.
Her grandmother, who we're calling Alice, has cared for her since she was nine months old.
"She doesn't understand social norms. So if she likes someone's necklace, she may take that necklace even though that is her friend, but that's part of her disability... If you see her, she'll colour in and she gets all excited about little childish things. But then there's also the other side of her, which is a teenager swearing at you. So people see that side."
Heidi Zeeman is a neuropsychologist and adjunct professor at Griffith University's Menzies Health Institute.
She says foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is a widespread problem, affecting the parts of the brain that control decision-making and responding appropriately to the environment.
"FASD affects young people's behaviour through irritability, aggression, difficulty self-monitoring and self-regulating. They're unable to engage in the community sufficiently, they're unable to perform the activities of everyday life that you and I might do."
A study by the Telethon Kids Institute provides further evidence about how widespread FASD is.
The Institute found that in Western Australia, 4 in 10 children in detention had FASD, and that 89 percent had some form of neurological condition.
Most children who get locked up reoffend.
Heidi says FASD is caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, and that the watch house environment only makes things worse.
"If you put that child in an isolated detention environment, what you will see is an exacerbation of that dysregulation. So you will see behaviour such as hitting the walls, acting out, becoming aggressive, becoming very heightened, and for that young person to be really unable to regulate their own behaviour."
Advocate Katherine Hayes also says the very conditions of confinement are doing damage to their chances of rehabilitation.
"We are aware of a large number of awful incidents that have taken place in watch houses across the state. Young people being beaten up by either cell mates or guards. Men exposing themselves to young girls or young children... When kids are coming out of the watchhouse or the detention centre at the moment, they are angry; they are traumatised."
Tim Spall is a Gija man and a psychologist who has worked with First Nations young people in Brisbane for over 20 years.
He says the whole system needs to change, to address the underlying issues the children face.
"My argument is, is that consequence should lead to better outcomes for both. If we don’t do that, we’re feeding these kids back into the same system… where they come back out and commit the same offence or similar offences again."
But advocates fear change is unlikely to happen.
n 2019, as the Minister for Child Safety, Di Farmer was advocating for children to be brought out of watch houses.
"If we persist with the lock them up and throw away the key approach with our young people, that is exactly what will happen. There’s an almost 100 per cent chance that young people will reoffend."
But now, as Queensland's Youth Justice Minister, she has a different view.
"I make no apology for keeping the community safe. So if a young person is a risk to themselves or to the community, then they will be detained and that they're in detention or in a watch house because a court has judged that they be placed there."
She says the system has sufficient checks and balances to prevent and address abuse and mistreatment.
"Of course no one wants to see a young person in distress. No one wants to see a young person mistreated. It is why we have a very strong system of accountability in our watch houses. We have at least seven oversight bodies going into those watch houses on a regular basis."
Queensland police declined multiple requests for an interview, but in a statement said that when a young person is taken into custody, their physical and mental health are assessed.
Police didn't comment on specific cases, but said they were aware of allegations and that these would be investigated.
Meanwhile, for children like Sam, the cycle continues.
With a state election months away and both sides of Queensland politics promising they’ll be even tougher on youth crime, they will continue to be put in adult watch houses and in isolation.
Alice says her granddaughter Sam is on the serious repeat offender list, which means she’s targeted by the specialist youth crime squad, Taskforce Guardian.
"Living in this world is very scary for her. And she doesn't always understand why she's arrested... We've had various responses from police. Some are very nice and understanding, but they've got a job to do. Some police officers have said to me they don't care, that they've been told to arrest her for everything... even though the watch house is not the right place for her."
There is even more to this story.
To see the rest of the investigation – head to the SBS News website.
(**Sam is not her real name.)
You may find these helplines useful:
13YARN (13 92 76)
Aboriginal Counselling Services 0410 539 905
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800
