Youth justice advocates have claimed children are being kept in ‘glass cages’ and only allowed 15 minutes of exercise a day in Queensland watchouses.
In response to allegations of mistreatment of youth offenders, the Palaszczuk government has created a standalone Department of Youth Justice, which vows a new 32-bed youth detention centre.
Queensland’s Public Guardian Natalie Siegel-Brown and the Australian Lawyers Alliance have also argued the minimum age of detention be raised from 10 to 14.