More than 1,000 largely Aboriginal children and young people detained in South Australia adult police cells in 2020/21
he South Australian commissioner for children and young people also raised concerns about the extended time for children in Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre at Cavan being detained in their cells,
South Australian children and young pople were arrested and held in 20 different police adult cells across the state 2,030 times in the 2020-21 financial year.
Of those admissions, 890 (43.8%) were for Aboriginal children and young people. In some regional and remote locations, all or near all children arrested and detained were Aboriginal. The figures were revealed in a report from the South Australian commissioner for children and young people. According to the United Nations human rights charter, children should only be held in adult cells as a last resort, for the shortest possible time and separately from adults.
South Australian government human services minister Nat Cook said the government would work towards an "acceptable position where children are not detained in adult facilities". She said that, in some regional areas, children were held overnight in police cells rather than being driven vast distances to courthouses for hearings: "Police are very careful to make sure that children are watched closely and separated from adults, so they're not in view of adult detainees either." Cook said a $15 million investment in Adelaide's youth detention centre at Cavan would help process young people through the justice system.
The South Australian commissioner for children and young people also raised concerns about the extended time for children in Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre at Cavan being detained in their cells, and the low percentage of Aboriginal children and young people (22.1%) who have been diverted away from the child justice system when compared with non-Indigenous children and young people (34.7%). The number of Aboriginal children diverted away from the justice system was the lowest since reporting began.
The commissioner, who also had the role of training centre visitor, giving independent oversight of youth justice detention within South Australia, had reiterated the view that the Adelaide Watch House in the city wasn’t a suitable environment to detain children and young people
