What the ABC learnt about remand after being sent an unredacted document | Breaking News & Latest Australia Updates

What the ABC learnt about remand after being sent an unredacted document — By Madeleine Rojahn Topic:Prisons Tasmanian youth are being held in adult custodial facilities at times — while they await court, bail or police inter...

By Madeleine Rojahn

Topic:Prisons

Tasmanian youth are being held in adult custodial facilities at times — while they await court, bail or police interview.(ABC News: Magie Khameneh)

The ABC requested information on "complaints, concerns or similar regarding children being held in an adult remand facility" and was mistakenly sent an unredacted document.

In the details that were meant to remain hidden, Tasmanian prison staff looking after children in watch houses expressed concerns about risks to themselves and to the detainees.

The Department of Justice says "reducing the risk of trauma to young people" is a "key priority", while an access to information researcher has questioned whether it was reasonable to redact the document in the first place.

Staff at two Tasmanian prisons have "urgently" requested body-worn cameras and reported "high levels of anxiety" when managing children in watch houses, a mistakenly unredacted document shows.

Using the Right to Information (RTI) process, the ABC requested information about complaints or concerns regarding Tasmanian children being held in adult custodial facilities — where they await court, bail or police interview.

RTI — sometimes called Freedom of Information — is a system that helps people access documents and other public-interest information held by public authorities.

When journalists or members of the public receive documents through RTI, they are usually partly blacked out as to not disclose information.

The Right to Information document was sent to the ABC twice, both unredacted and redacted.(ABC News: Magie Khameneh)

The ABC made an RTI request to the Department of Justice, the public authority for the Tasmanian Prison Service.

Two months later, a 14-page document was received.

See more details of the ABC's request, the information provided and relevant parts of the Right to Information Act, here.

By mistake, the document received was completely free from redaction, revealing in full an "issues register" from 2024, where prison staff listed concerns around the detention of children in watch houses and the Department of Justice responded with suggestions or actions to address them.

Within minutes the department sent another email saying they "would like to recall" the document.

It then sent a second, corrected version of the document, which was completely redacted aside from several paragraphs and a one-page introduction.

Watch houses are designed for temporary detention andlack the facilities of long-term prisons or detention centres.

The department told the ABC that redactions were made where the document contained personally identifying information, deliberative information, and information "out-of-scope" of the request.

The unredacted version contained no names or personally identifying details.

The ABC has decided to publish this story, after reviewing the information.

Earlier this month, Tasmania's custodial inspector urged the state government to stop detaining children in watch houses.(Supplied: Office of the Custodial Inspector/Ben Buckland)

Concerns about the length of time youth detainees could spend in reception prisons was raised in the document.(Supplied: Office of the Custodial Inspector/Ben Buckland)

The ABC can reveal the hidden information was indicative of staff concerns that:

Watch houses lack the facilities needed for longer prison stays.(Supplied: Office of the Custodial Inspector)

Prison staff said detainees could spend multiple days in cells without access to showers.(Supplied: Office of the Custodial Inspector)

The Department of Justice has since told the ABC:

The department said it was in the final stages of acquiring body-worn cameras in reception prisons — where watch houses are located — "with implementation expected before the end of the year".

In the issues register, the department responded to staff concerns about health and hygiene risks for children, saying it would "upgrade infrastructure to allow young people to tend to basic hygiene and self-care".

"Reducing the risk of trauma to young people in reception prisons remains a key priority. The department is committed to ongoing improvements."

Tasmanian prison staff, who manage youth in watch houses on behalf of Tasmania Police, said police officers "regularly" told detainees they "will be at the WH [watch house] for a little while" — which can negatively impact their mental and physiological state.

Dysregulation refers to an inability to control or regulate emotional responses.

Prison staff flagged that police at times provided insufficient information about detainees when transferring them to watch houses.(Supplied: Office of Custodial Inspector/Ben Buckland)

The Right to Information office was asked about its decision to redact parts of the document.(Supplied: Office of the Custodial Inspector/Ben Buckland)

Staff also said police provided insufficient information when transferring people to watch houses, resulting in "significant operational risks and impacts the safety of detainees".

But police say an admission form for each detainee outlining personal details, behavioural risks, medical information and child safety concerns is provided to prison staff.

"Tasmania Police aims to provide timely and accurate information to prison staff regarding a youth in custody at the time the youth is detained," a police spokesperson said.

The department said over the next five years it intended to "advocate for Youth Justice Blueprint to incorporate watch house facility for young people".

Hobart Reception Prison is the watch house in the state's south. There's also one in Launceston.(ABC News: Loretta Lohberger)

Johan Lidberg is an access to information expert from Monash University.(Monash University)

Johan Lidberg, an associate professor at Monash University, believed because the document was "in the highest public interest" and did not identify people, it was not reasonable to keep it hidden — and considered the "personal information" exemption did not apply.

The department was asked for more details on the decision to not disclose the information.

It replied: "As outlined in the right to information decision, if you are dissatisfied with the decision you may seek an internal review under section 43 of the Right to Information Act 2009 (the Act)."

The second version of the RTI document was nearly completely redacted.(ABC News: Magie Khameneh)

The ABC requested details of:

"Complaints, concerns or similar regarding children and young people being held in an adult remand facility and related correspondence from 2022 to 2025."

One 14-page document was given to the ABC titled "Engaging with Young People Training — Issues and Responses".

It included a one-page introduction and then a table with two columns — one outlining staff-raised issues with dealing with young people in watch houses and the other with the department's written response to the issue.

It was initially completely unredacted but with red outline boxes left around some sections, and then, minutes later a version with those boxes redacted was sent through in which almost all the document was redacted.

The initial introduction as well as some sections on pages 2 and 3 were left unredacted.

No staff or detainees were named in the document.

The department said redactions were made according to the following parts of Tasmania's Right to Information Act:

Exemptions subject to public interest test

Section 35 — 'Internal deliberative information'

I consider that disclosing the above listed items, which contain material compiled by departmental officers may contain information which is wrong or inaccurate — see clause (u) of Schedule 1. The material contains records of ongoing consultations between officers, including material which is deliberative in nature. It is also important to note that the material relates to exchanges by relatively junior Departmental employees and there is no information to indicate their views would be adopted as a formal policy.

I also consider that the nature of the comments of Departmental officers are deliberate in nature and should not be disclosed. Officers must feel free to provide their opinions, advice and recommendations, and to participate openly in consultative and deliberative processes, in order for decision and action resulting from those processes to be robust. The overriding public interest consideration is the need to ensure that there is a frank exchange of views between officers when making decisions. The disclosure of consultations or deliberations would likely prevent such exchanges from occurring, with a consequent detrimental impact on good decision-making. Further, it would also lead to a reluctance to document the reasons for decision, with a consequent loss in transparency in the decision-making process.

Section 36 — 'Personal information of a person'

I consider that disclosing the personal information of members of the public would be detrimental to the interests of those persons — see clause (m) of Schedule 1. The personal information of people who have been held at a watch-house is not in the public domain and those persons might suffer discrimination by reason of their having been in these facilities if disclosed.

As a consequence of the above, I am of the opinion that the factor favouring disclosure are outweighed by those against disclosure and it is not in the public interest to provide the personal information of a members of the public.

'Information out of scope'

I consider that part of the material contains information which is out of scope of your request. The relevant material has been redacted and marked accordingly.

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