A day in the life of Max
When a court sentences a young person to time in custody, or if they are refused bail, they go to a youth detention centre.
Youth detention centres are secure places for people aged 10 to 18. They exist to:
- protect the safety of the community
- provide consequences for offending
- prepare detained young people to live productively in the community.
The story below is not about one specific young person. It does represent a number of young people in detention.
Being in a youth detention centre
I’m a 16-year-old male from South East Queensland.
The police picked me up one night when I’d been out creeping with my mates, and charged me with:
- stealing
- enter premise with intent
- unauthorised use of a motor vehicle.
I went to court the next morning and the magistrate remanded me in custody. I’m waiting for my case to be heard in court and find out what sentence I’ll get.
This is not the first time I’ve been in youth detention.
My day
I wake up around 7am. My room is locked overnight while I sleep. I don’t mind because I know that it means other young people can’t come into my room. I feel safer that way.
I go out into the common area when my room is unlocked. There are 7 other boys who are living in this unit too. A few of them I know from other times I’ve been in detention or from in the community.
I have breakfast and do chores. I have to keep my room clean including the bathroom that is in my room. This week it’s my job to clean the floors out in the common area too. The common area is really one huge room that includes a bench and some tables and chairs that are bolted to the floor, (a bit like picnic tables), a couple of big vinyl-covered foam lounges, the phones where we can call people on our phone list, an area where we can play games like table tennis and an outside area where we can play games like basketball.
The detention youth workers give each of us our toothbrushes and we go back into our rooms for a hygiene break. The doors are locked again so I am safe to go to the toilet and finish getting ready for school.
When I’m on the outside I don’t really go to school. I don’t go home much either because it’s boring. I’ve got other things to do. I like hanging out with my friends.
The school day
When it’s our turn, the detention youth workers walk us to the school. I don’t mind going to classes and programs while I’m in detention. There’s not much else that I can do here and I’m learning things and getting certificates. I especially like sport and I’m getting pretty good at bricklaying. I also love music and art.
I have 4 class sessions every school day.
The detention youth worker stays in the classroom with us. We have a teacher and a teacher aid. It’s pretty good because it’s only 4 of us in the class, so we can get help if we need it.
We have another hygiene break at lunch and sometimes there are more chores.
Every time we go between our unit and the school, the youth detention workers go with us.
After school
After school is finished for the day, the detention youth workers take us back to our unit. Now it’s time for programs.
There are all kinds of programs here at the youth detention centre. My caseworker talks with me about what programs will help me to change my behaviour. One of the programs I’m doing right now is called ROAD. It’s about attitudes about driving and making us think about whether our choices are good ones.
One of the other programs I’ve started is called CHART. My caseworker says it will help me with problem-solving and making better choices in my life. I’m supposed to talk about the drugs and alcohol I’ve had and other stuff like that too.
After programs
After I finish my programs it’s time for a shower, then it’s time for dinner. Tonight, we’re having lasagna. It’s my favourite.
After dinner we have to help clean up, then we usually play ping pong. I also have some time to phone my family. There’s a phone in the common area that we all share and take turns with. You can only call the approved people on your list, and you only get 10 minutes for each phone call. There’s a limit on how long you can use the phone in a week.
A while after 7pm we all go into our rooms. Some nights I listen to music or read or watch television. Then at 10.30pm it’s time for the lights and television in our rooms to be turned off, and I go to sleep.
During the night the detention youth workers check on me. There’s a small window on my door with a curtain they pull back. There’s also a CCTV camera in my room, and I can call the staff on the intercom if I need to.
Further information
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