Banksia Hill Detention Centre opened in 1997. The centre underwent a major redevelopment from 2010 to 2012. Following this, the state’s only other juvenile custodial facility, Rangeview Remand Centre, was converted into an adult prison. Since October 2012, all juvenile detainees in Western Australia have been housed at Banksia Hill. It is a maximum-security facility, holding boys and girls, sentenced and unsentenced, from all regions. Young people range in age from 10 to 18 (and beyond).
This was our sixth announced inspection of Banksia Hill. We are required by the Inspector of Custodial Services Act 2003 (WA) to report on each custodial facility every three years, but we have reported on Banksia Hill far more frequently in recent times. In the six years between 2012 and 2018, we produced seven reports on Banksia Hill. This reflected the elevated risk level of the centre over that period. The fact that it has now been a full three years between inspections indicates that the centre has been relatively stable.