" Youth Detention " Rules !

The used of strip searches to counter the smuggling of drugs, contraband and weapons in youth detention centres is coming under increasing fire from humanist elements who claim that it is particularly humiliating for those who have suffered past sexual abuse.  In NSW the guidelines have been changed and detainees now must remain partially clothed while searches are carried out.

Youth detention centres are well known for their violence and the state has an obligation to put adequate protection in place for the people who are tasked with keeping order and maintaining control of the facilities required by the courts. A riot in a juvenile detention centre is no less serious than a similar disturbance in an adult prison.

Many peopled will remember news footage of the twenty-one hour riot at the central coast's Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre.  The inmates gained control of that centre, broke in to workshops and armed themselves with weapons and did thousands of dollars worth of damage before control was re-established.  The personal safety of staff in the centre when such an incident occurs is obviously at risk.

The problem is that strip searches seem to be nothing more than a regular routine method of searching for contraband and the success rate is not rewarding.  In one Victorian centre 1798 strip searches were conducted over a six month period and the seizure came to a total of just fourteen items.  Included in that total was medication, cigarettes, watches and sunglasses.    In NSW last year in one month 408 youth detainees were strip searched and the sole irregularity discovered - was a ping pong ball.

Unfortunately, many of the young people who find themselves in juvenile detention come from homes where sheer survival depends on rat cunning.  There is no predictable meal routine and what you eat is what you can steal, either from your siblings or from the community at large.  In many cases these young people are totally lacking even a basic education.   They have spent little time in any classroom and consequently they lack the social graces to be able to mix with their peers.  This is where tribal leadership comes to the fore and they become the instigator of violence when contained in a detention centre.

There is every reason to keep the rules in place in juvenile justice as relaxed as safety will allow, but it is also a fact of life that for many of those within its walls this is merely a way station on their progress to an adult prison.  In this ever demanding world, few who lack the ability to attract an employer or have the ability to offer a useful service will achieve the change to honest citizen.

In taking the humanist approach, it is too easy to forget the safety needs of the men and women who are tasked with running these juvenile detention centres and whose work days are filled with almost unimaginable risks  !