At least six youth offenders have broken onto the roof of a detention facility sparking a standoff with prison staff.
A group of inmates at Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Canning Vale, suburban Perth, climbed onto the roof off the facility about 2.30pm on Monday.
They allegedly threw bricks, poles and fire extinguishers at authorities trying to get them down.
Aerial footage of the incident showed children ripping air vents off the roof along with other pieces of metal.
One offender was seen setting off a fire extinguisher.
Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas blamed the incident on the WA state government’s ‘chronic mismanagement’ of Banksia Hill and other youth detention centres.
‘There’s no other thing you can say about it – they have failed,’ he told ABC Radio Perth.
‘They’ve failed those children. They failed those inmates and they’ve failed the men and women that need to take care of them.
A group of youth offenders broke onto the roof of Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Canning Vale
The inmates were seen ripping pieces of tin off the roof of the facility
Banksia Hill is a maximum-security facility which holds boys and girls aged between 10 and 17 years old.
The Department of Justice earlier confirmed Corrective Services officers were ‘responding to an incident involving a group of young people’.
Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia claimed the violent outburst backed the state government’s existing reforms.
‘It shows the challenging task confronted by our youth custodial officers and reaffirms the need for a purpose-designed facility to house the state’s most high-risk youth, as announced by our government last week,’ he said.
The WA Government committed additional funding for a new 30-bed detention centre for high-risk youth offenders.
That group is currently held at Unit 18 inside the maximum-security adult Casuarina Prison.
Banksia Hill Detention Centre has had several riots in recent years.
Two buildings were set on fire on New Year’s Eve in 2022 and in 2023 heavily armed officers were brought in the quell a 12-hour riot, which then-premier Mark McGowan described as a ‘form of terrorism’.
The rioters allegedly threw projectiles at authorities trying to get them off the roof
It’s understood at least six youth offenders were on the roof
Other notable incidents included a large riot in 2013 and another three-hour rampage in 2017, during which armoured officers used stun grenades and pepper spray.
Following the previous incidents, reports surfaced of some juvenile inmates being kept in solitary confinement for more than 20-hours-a-day, described by some critics ‘inhumane’ conditions.
A new facility which the government claims will fix many of the persistent issues is set to be built next to Banksia Hill Detention Centre at a cost of $156million and be completed in 2028.
‘The fact that it’s going to take over half a decade to deliver [the new facility] shows how little priority they have given to this issue,’ Mr Zampilas said.
‘We’ll have a racetrack at Burswood Park before we will have these upgraded facilities. That’s not good enough.’
