Staff at Perth's Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre had to barricade themselves during a New Year's Eve riot, which saw two buildings damaged by fire.
Corrective Services Commissioner Mike Reynolds said 22 inmates climbed fences and rooftops causing damage and threatening staff, prompting the department to deploy its special operations group.
"The situation was definitely volatile and there was a genuine risk to my staff and [to] the detainees," he said.
"We kept trying to find out why they were up there and they said, ‘We want to watch the fireworks’ but I don’t believe that was the reason.
"I think it was low impulse control, spontaneous and genuine threats to the safety and wellbeing of my staff."
The detainees — who ranged between 13 and 18 years of age, could be seen on top of a perimeter fence as flames and smoke billowed from the buildings.
An education block and a staff block were damaged, but there were no injuries.
All detainees have been in lockdown since the riot, including those who were not involved.
Detainees face criminal charges
Western Australia's minister for corrective services, Bill Johnston, said the detainees involved have been referred to police.
"The police have already started their investigation, because we have to have accountability for violent behaviour," he said.
He said the riot began during recreation time.
“The detainees were out of their cells at the time, participating in recreation activities," he said.
"There’s been a high level of out-of-cell hours over the Christmas-New year period.”
Mr Johnston denied that staffing levels were a contributing factor, with 35 officers and 66 detainees in the centre at the time.
"That’s more than one uniformed officer for every two detainees, so there is absolutely no suggestion that there was insufficient staffing available in the centre yesterday and staffing levels were not in any way a contribution to the issue.”
Deaths in Custody Watch Committee member Desmond Blurton has urged the government to consider why the riot took place, despite adequate staffing levels and out-of-cell time.
"These are children. You've got to ask yourself, 'Why do children want to jump up on the roof?'" he asked.
"We call on the government to meet us urgently, including our elders, to mediate peace."
Mr Blurton said there needed to be a bigger focus on restorative justice and rehabilitative measures, as well as more Indigenous involvement in the youth justice system.
"How can we say the justice system is working when we can't have access to these systems? We need to know what is going on in there," he said.
Incident deeply traumatic for staff, union says
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) — which represents workers at Banksia Hill — said staff had to barricade themselves in a safe location during the riot.
"Our understanding is there hasn't been any physical harm done to staff, however, these incidents are obviously deeply traumatic for people," branch secretary Rikki Hendon said.
"Staff were threatened and, obviously, that's extremely distressing."
The CPSU is calling for a new model of care to be implemented and fully funded at Banksia Hill, and for the government to release what work it has done so far.
Rioting a coping strategy, opposition claims
Western Australia's shadow corrective services minister, Peter Collier, said that while he did not condone the riots, they were inevitable at the troubled facility.
“We have seen a litany of issues at Banksia Hill Detention Centre which shows that that facility is simply not working,” he said.
“The juveniles … have come in almost exclusively from disadvantaged, marginalised backgrounds.
“They have suffered outside of Banksia Hill. They are suffering inside Banksia Hill.”
Mr Collier said it was not appropriate for juveniles to be sent to Banksia Hill because of its punitive approach rather than focusing on rehabilitation.
“We all have our coping strategies. We all deal with pressure: in some instances it’s anger, in some instances it’s frustration, in some instances it’s depression," he said.
"In this instance, their coping strategy is exactly what happened yesterday, the only way, the only vehicle they’ve got, is to riot.
“Some of these juveniles are in their cells for 20 hours a day. I’d like the premier to go sit in a cell for 20 hours a day and say everything’s just peachy here. It’s not.”
Controversy surrounds detention centre
Western Australia's only youth detention centre was the subject of harsh criticism last year, with concerns over staffing levels.
Teenagers have been moved to Casuarina adult maximum security prison, after damaging their cells.
Among an extensive list of condemnations, the president of Children's Court, Hylton Quail, previously described sending the children to the adult maximum facility as "barbaric" and "a form of torture".
The West Australian government has repeatedly defended the move, saying it was due to an "escalation of extreme behaviour" in teenage inmates, sharing pictures of damaged holding cells.
In recent months, concerns around the length of time teenagers were being held in their cells have been scrutinised by the courts.
At a recent hearing in the Supreme Court, the government admitted ongoing issues with staffing, infrastructure and detainee behaviour had led to children being held in cells for an illegal amount of time.
