Locking up the locked up: solitary confinement of children and young people in Victoria

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite being the second Australian jurisdiction to introduce legislative human rights protections in 2006 (Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic)), Victoria has failed to bring the legislation governing juvenile detention (the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic)) in line with the human rights protections contained in the Charter. This was brought to the fore with the Victorian Government’s decision to detain children in a precinct in the Barwon adult maximum security prison in late 2016— a decision that the Supreme Court twice ruled breached the rights of the children protected by the Charter (Certain Children decisions 2016 and 2017). This article focuses on the solitary confinement of children and young people (aged 18 to 24 years) as a specific area in which Victorian legislation fails to comply with the Charter and international human rights law, as well as the main practice that has ultimately led to the first court decision concerning the rights of those in closed environments where the Charter has provided an immediate remedy.