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The 16-year-old Aboriginal boy who was found unconscious following a self-harm incident in the Unit 18 youth wing of Casuarina Prison in Perth, has died after a week on life support.<\/p>\n
The boy is the first child to die while in the custody of WA\u2019s youth justice system, and is believed to be Australia\u2019s first child in custody death since 15-year-old Johnno Warramarrba took his life in Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre on February 9, 2000.<\/p>\n
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Paramedics arrived on scene soon after and rushed the boy to hospital, but he has passed away a week later. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>File photo\/Michael O\u2019Brien<\/cite><\/p>\n The teenager died at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital shortly after 10pm Thursday, with family members by his bed.<\/p>\n He had been found unresponsive in his cell by staff in the early hours of October 12, who provided emergency first aid until paramedics arrived.<\/p>\n The Department of Justice released a statement on Friday morning, expressing its \u201cdeepest sympathies to the boy\u2019s family, friends and community for their tragic loss.\u201d<\/p>\n Gerry Georgatos, who runs the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project and was a PhD candidate on Australian Deaths in Custody inquiry, said experts had been warning this would be the result of Western Australia\u2019s problems-plagued youth detention system, where some teenagers were moved from Banksia Hill Detention Centre to a wing of the adult prison where this boy took his life.<\/p>\n \u201cThe alarm bells have been rung, year after year, the cries for help by children incarcerated, that a death in custody of a child would eventuate to haunt the state of Western Australia,\u201d he said last week.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we do not heed the horror of Unit 18, there will be loss to a suicide or unnatural death. This 16-year-old is on life support and we pray he is not Western Australia\u2019s first child death in custody, and Australia\u2019s first one since 15-year-old Johnno Warramarrba took his life in notorious Don Dale on February 9, 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia and Premier Roger Cook have admitted conditions at the adult prison are not ideal for children.<\/p>\n \u201cUnit 18 houses the most challenging, complex and often dangerous juveniles,\u201d Papalia said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the only place we have for them at the moment, we are working up a plan to vastly improve the delivery of services there. I recognise it\u2019s not an ideal situation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe alternative of bringing unit 18 detainees back to Banksia Hill is that [the progress at Banksia Hill] all goes backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n The death will be subject to a mandatory inquest, and the Department said they would co-operate with the Coronial process.<\/p>\n They said they had aided family from regional WA to spend time with the boy at the hospital, and continued to offer support.<\/p>\n Detainees and staff at Unit 18 and Banksia Hill Detention Centre will be provided counselling and support services during this difficult time.<\/p>\n Crisis support is available from <\/b>Lifeline<\/b> on 13 11 14, <\/b>Kids Helpline <\/b>1800 55 1800, for 24\/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).<\/b><\/p>\nMost Viewed in National<\/h2>\n
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