Western Australia's justice department locked a 16-year-old in his cell 22-plus hours a day before his death in custody, then kept the unit open after the coroner urged its closure.
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In findings dated 28 November 2025 and released on 8 December 2025 ([2025] WACOR 49), WA Coroner Philip Urquhart found that a 16-year-old Aboriginal boy who died after being found hanging in his cell at Unit 18, a youth detention unit inside the adult Casuarina Prison, had spent 74 of his last 87 days locked in his cell for more than 22 hours a day, which he found inhumane. The coroner found the Department of Justice left the unit chronically understaffed, failed to stop detainees covering cell cameras, failed to remove the boy from a cell with an obvious ligature point and failed to place him on its at-risk system; he made 19 recommendations, including that Unit 18 close immediately. As of May 2026 the unit remained open, holding one or no detainees, with the department saying a separate facility remains important until a replacement youth centre due in 2028 is built.
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