A warning to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers this story contains the name and image of a person who has died. More than 100 protesters have gathered at Western Australia's parliament house in Perth calling for the immediate closure of the state's notorious juvenile facility inside the maximum-security casuarina prison. Two teenagers have died in detention in the state in the past 10 months.
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00:00Well, it's been a really sombre yet passionate atmosphere down at this protest here this
00:06afternoon in Perth.
00:08It kicked off just after midday, yet people are still here several hours later with key
00:12speakers still speaking.
00:14Now, there's been cardboard signs that lots of protesters have been holding up, ones reading
00:19close Unit 18 now and build communities, not prisons.
00:24The sees of cardboard signs can be seen as people have just really been standing there
00:28nodding and really just taking it in, listening to these key speakers and really calling for
00:33the immediate closure of Unit 18.
00:35Now, some of the key speakers include Stuart Dodd, the grandfather of 16-year-old Cleveland
00:41Dodd who fatally self-harmed inside Unit 18 in October last year, recording WA's first
00:47juvenile death in custody.
00:49He really spoke of the grief that this family has gone through over the last year and especially
00:55coming up to the anniversary of Cleveland's death just next month.
01:00Another key speaker was Jerry Giorgiotto, a social justice advocate.
01:05Now, he was really fired up and really passionate speaking to the crowd, in particular criticising
01:11the WA government in the way that it has managed youth detention in Western Australia.
01:16He said that it breaks his soul that we've now recorded two deaths in custody.
01:20The second juvenile death in custody was just late last month in August, a 17-year-old
01:25boy fatally self-harmed inside Banksia Hill Detention Centre, which is of course separate
01:30to Unit 18, however that boy had spent time inside Unit 18.
01:35Jerry also said the government is the face of We Don't Care and he really shouted that
01:40into the crowd and was met with lots of applause and people shouting back to close Unit 18.
01:47Now, Unit 18 was set up in mid-2022 in a hurry, after which the government said it was a particularly
01:55destructive group and a destructive cohort.
01:57They described them as particularly difficult.
01:59They set up Unit 18 because of this cohort at Banksia Hill Detention Centre and there
02:05has been many issues inside Unit 18 as a result, of course, marked by the death of Cleveland's
02:12death.
02:13However, we've also heard from a mother here today who spoke about her son who's currently
02:16inside Unit 18 and some of the treatment that he has experienced as well.
02:21Now, people here want Unit 18 to be shut down immediately and that's what they're calling
02:26for.
02:27The government last year in November confirmed it was looking into and would build a facility
02:31next to Banksia Hill Detention Centre as a way to close down Unit 18 and have an area
02:37that could house some of that more difficult cohort, however they didn't give a timeline.
02:42Now, they have confirmed a business case for this new facility and we did hear today that
02:47they have confirmed that it could take more than five years to build that facility and
02:51shut down Unit 18 as a result, which is obviously not the answer those advocating and calling
02:57for here today at this protest wanted to hear.