Nadene Dodd says she won't leave Perth after the findings on the death of her son are handed down on Monday until she looks WA Premier Roger Cook in the eye and tells him Cleveland did not need to die to bring about reform.

Cleveland Dodd died on 19 October 2023, at the age of 16.

The Yamatji boy had spent a week on life support after a self-harm incident inside Unit 18, the youth facility operating within Casuarina Prison, a maximum-security adult jail 35 kilometres south of Perth.

Unit 18 was set up as an interim measure in 2022 after the deterioration of Banksia Hill Detention Centre, but has remained open despite repeated warnings from oversight bodies, staff, human rights experts and justice advocates.

More than two years since her son's death, Nadene has sat through the coronial inquest detailing the conditions in which he was held, evidence she says no mother should ever have to hear.

"It has been torture to sit through all of it, to hear how my boy lived his last days and hours," she said. "To hear what was done and what wasn't done."

Inquest documents show that on 74 of the 86 days he spent in Unit 18, Cleveland was locked inside for nearly the entire day, with limited access to programs or time outdoors.

Just after midnight on 12 October, he told staff over the intercom that he intended to take his own life. Officers told him not to speak that way.

The CCTV camera in his cell had been blocked with toilet paper since mid-afternoon. It was not cleared. About 13 minutes later, he was found unresponsive and taken to Fiona Stanley Hospital, where he spent a week on life support.

Public records show Cleveland had been held in prolonged confinement at Banksia Hill and Unit 18 in the months before his death.

Reports by Inspector of Custodial Services Eamon Ryan documented that young people in Unit 18 were routinely kept in their cells for up to 22 or 23 hours a day, with limited access to education or time outdoors.

The WA Department of Justice has publicly apologised to his family, confirming he was not given enough time out of cell, was denied water, and that staff failed to detect the blocked CCTV camera.

The Coroner has already issued written preliminary remarks describing youth detention in WA as "in crisis at the time of Cleveland's death", and indicating Unit 18 may need to close "as a matter of urgency".

Oversight bodies had long raised concerns about chronic staffing shortages, excessive lockdowns and unsafe conditions.

But for Nadene, those apologies land as hollow statements with no weight to them.

She hopes Monday's findings will "share the truth of what happened in Unit 18".

"I want the truth of how a boy ends up spending almost all day in a cell for months," she said.

Cleveland's absence follows Nadene through every part of her life. She is calling for Unit 18 to be shut down so no other family endures what hers has.

"I want the end of keeping children in concrete boxes. I want investment in supports, in real help, in keeping our kids alive and well — not locked away," she said.

She says if the coronial recommendations don't include closing Unit 18, it will compound the grief she already carries.

"If they blame my boy, instead of asking why a child behaved as he did, and why the system didn't help, that would be the greatest insult."

Youth justice advocate Gerry Georgatos, who has been working with the Dodd family since Cleveland's death, says there can be no justice when a child dies in the custody of the State; but there is an opportunity for reform.

Mr Georgatos has called for Unit 18 to be shut down since its inception. He has long advocated for an alternative youth justice system in WA.

"We need 24/7 therapeutic, community-based, life-transformative hubs — not more concrete cells, not more high-risk units, not more child prisons pretending to be rehabilitation," he said.

Nadene wants the people in power to confront what happened.

"My son is dead, and everyone at fault needs to admit their wrong," she said. "I need the Premier to admit the cruel system killed my boy."

13 YARN support line - 13 92 76

Lifeline - 13 11 14

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800