Sisters Inside is calling for the complete abolition of watch house detention for children, saying Queensland can no longer pretend these facilities are temporary holding places when they have become sites of routine degradation, violence and psychological harm.
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal has now confirmed what children, families, advocates and community organisations have been saying for years: children held in the Cairns Watchhouse had (and continue to have) their human rights unlawfully limited. They were forced to use toilets in full view of other children, denied privacy, kept in filthy conditions, deprived of clean clothing, meaningful activity, exercise and basic communication about what was happening to them.