Early work has started on a new $158 million facility to house Western Australia's most high-risk youth offenders, Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia says.
"This is a purpose-designed, purpose-planned facility to accommodate the most complex, challenging and often violent cohort of juvenile detainees that we confront in the state," he told reporters on Friday.
"It is essentially a mental health forensic facility for juveniles."
Touted as "world-class", the facility is expected to be completed within three years and will have 30 beds.
It will be built in Perth's southern suburbs, adjacent to WA's other youth detention centre, Banksia Hill, which was significantly damaged by a riot in 2023.
WA's most high-risk youth offenders are currently being held in a youth wing of a high-security adult prison in Perth's southern suburbs named Unit 18.
The facility has been under the microscope since 16-year-old detainee Cleveland Dodd fatally injured himself inside his cell in late 2023.
An ongoing inquest into his death has heard evidence that he was held in "inhumane" solitary confinement for more than 22 hours per day.
Former Department of Justice director-general Adam Tomison agreed that Cleveland's treatment was cruel, inhumane and degrading while giving evidenceÂ
Coroner Philip Urquhart was also scathing of Unit 18, saying he might recommend that it be closed, as he delivered his preliminary findings in July.
Mr Papalia said Unit 18 had "massively changed since the tragic loss of Cleveland".
"There has been an incredible amount of work done," he said.
Operational practices, infrastructure and training for staff had been improved, he said.
Unit 18 will be closed once the new facility is operational and the detainees currently held there are transferred into it.
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