A staff member at Canberra's Bimberi Youth Justice Centre has been sacked following an investigation into whether they had a relationship with a former detainee.
The centre's Deputy Manager, Alison Grace, appeared this week as part of Tasmania's Commission of Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings, when she revealed the investigation had taken place.
The inquiry was not focused on the ACT's youth justice system, but Ms Grace was asked about how her own institution handled issues of misconduct when they arose.
Ms Grace said management was made aware of a possible relationship occurring outside of the centre between a member of staff and a detainee once the detainee had been released.
It is not clear when they were alerted to the possible relationship.
She said the investigation looked into security vision and other records, but did not find any evidence of inappropriate conduct in the centre itself.
"We started to look at the evidence available to us through CCTV within the centre to see if there were any concerns about the interactions of those two people while the young person was in our care," Ms Grace said.
"Information was passed onto the ACT Ombudsman as a reportable conduct matter and also passed onto the police for investigation, in case there was other information or evidence available to them that we weren't aware of, that might have meant that that adult was having inappropriate relationships with young people in the community.
"It was evident that nothing had occurred while the young person was at the centre but obviously information had been shared between the young person and the adult that allowed the adult to contact the young person in the community."
She said the contractor was stood down while the investigation was held and was ultimately found to have not upheld professional standards.
"There was definitely concerns with the professional boundaries," she said.
"We knew that the person hadn't acted under the Public Sector Management Act and maintained those boundaries that they needed to hold as a professional, but we believe that was the extent of it."
