The head of a Queensland community legal centre says it's "inexplicable" the state government hasn't funded a lawyer position it had proposed to fast-track sentencing of youth offenders in Cairns and help ease overcapacity issues in the Cairns watch house.
"We've got kids, say, two or three weeks, four to a cell with nothing," CEO Katherine Hayes told Hack.A Department of Youth Justice spokesperson said it advised YAC "a competitive tender process would be undertaken should it be determined that additional legal advocacy services are required for Cairns".
"It's not a lot of money for a service that could really help clear the detention centres and the watch houses." " they've got beds, that they're not on mattresses on the floor like they are at the moment."As at Monday last week, the watch house had a bed occupancy of 138.10 per cent, with nine young people being held in custody alongside adults, according to QPS.Seventy-seven juveniles and 493 adults were in custody in February.
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Source: FinancialReview - 🏆 2. / 90 Read more »