Connie Georgatos reads from a statement by Cleveland Dodd's mother Nadene. Video by AAP
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00:00It breaks my heart to know that from the moment he was transferred to Unit 18,
00:04Cleveland never got the chance to go outside, to feel the sun on his skin, to breathe in fresh air,
00:10to look at the sky. Instead, Cleveland spent his time locked down for almost 24 hours of the day,
00:17day in and day out, for weeks on end. The images I saw of him surrounded by uneven plates of food
00:24could not be unseen. The concrete box in which he took his last breaths was barren and filthy.
00:30Cleveland deserved more. All children deserve more. Institutional abuse of children is
00:36unacceptable in the same way that any abuse of children is unacceptable.
00:41We should hold governments to a higher, not a lower, standard.
00:54you