Two 13-year-old Indigenous children were kept in adult Queensland watch houses for 26 and 25 days respectively, submissions from the youth justice inquiry have revealed.

Emails by the Youth Advocacy Centre (YAC) as part of their submission to the landmark inquiry also revealed two Aboriginal youths with moderate intellectual impairments and various mental health and cognitive conditions spent over two weeks in watch houses, while an 11-year-old was housed in the same facility as adult offenders.

The Senate inquiry into youth justice and detention systems across the country was set up in the wake of the second young person to die in youth custody in WA in less than a year, and will deliver its findings to the federal government before the end of the year.

The Queensland government, currently in caretaker mode before the upcoming election, has twice suspended the Human Rights Act in the past 18 months—to make breaching bail for young people a criminal offence and allowing alleged youth offenders to be housed in adult watch houses.

A series of heavily redacted letters sent by YAC's chief executive Katherine Hayes to Queensland Premier Steven Miles and Director-General of the Queensland Department of Youth Justice, Bob Gee, highlighted instances of children being subject to racist abuse, being held overnight in solitary confinement, and having their blankets and mattresses taken away from them as punishment.

An email to Mr Gee at the end of January said two Aboriginal children with mental and cognitive conditions, as well as intellectual impairments, had been held in watch houses in South-East Queensland for 15 days.

In an email addressed to the Premier, Mr Gee and Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer, dated April 24, Ms Hayes said the government was failing to adequately support young people by housing children in watch houses, "which is ultimately detrimental to community safety".

She said at the time, two 14-year-old Aboriginal boys had been in an adult watch house for 28 and 30 days respectively, whilst a Brisbane watch house had been holding a 13-year-old Aboriginal boy for 15 days, with an 11-year-old Aboriginal boy and four 13-year-old children also in watch houses.

"56 First Nations children are being held in Queensland watch houses – this is 70 per of the total number," Ms Hayes said.

"This alone should be cause for immediate action."

The letter highlighted the sexual and physical assaults on children and young people while in watch houses by either other young people or watch house staff; the "lack of appropriate, consistent and ongoing mental health responses for children"—many who had expressed suicidal ideations; and the lack of "any meaningful cultural supports, fresh air, sunshine and access to adequate supports and family contact for children" in the facilities.

National Indigenous Times understands YAC is moving forward with legal action against the Queensland government for failing to protect young people in the state's watch houses.

According to guidelines, children are not meant to be kept in a watch house for more than 72 hours, but Ms Hayes told National Indigenous Times in July that a psychiatrist working in watch houses said he sees a decline in children's mental health after 24 hours, arguing "they come out angrier and more damaged".

In an email to Police Minister Mark Ryan on September 23, Ms Hayes highlighted a report from earlier that month by the Inspector of Detention Service's, Anthony Reilly, into the Cairns watch house.

It found sick and suicidal children are being held in the state's police watch houses for weeks without receiving any medical or psychological care and warned of "catastrophic consequences" if this continued.

Ms Hayes asked Minister Ryan that given the "alarming" conditions identified in the report, "[What are] the reasons for detaining these children rather than diverting them; [and, what are] the steps taken to minimise the harm to these children caused by their detention in the various watch houses?"

National Indigenous Times is aware none of the reports or questions received substantive responses that indicated change to the policy of housing children in the facilities.

As of 6 am on Tuesday morning, 15 children are being held in watch houses across Queensland—73 per cent of them First Nations.

In August, a review of watch houses was announced, but it won't investigate whether they are appropriate to hold children for long periods, but rather the ability of the Queensland Police Service "to deliver a system under current arrangements" and whether the facilities are fit for purpose.

In the same month, the Human Rights Commission criticised the decision to house children in adult facilities and expressed "grave concern" at footage showing an intellectually disabled, 13-year-old First Nations child being forcibly restrained and kept in an isolation cell.

It prompted Amnesty International Indigenous Rights campaigner Kacey Teerman to argue the Queensland government was "knowingly perpetrating child abuse on an industrial scale".

In July, ABC's 7.30 showed a17-year-old First Nations boy being struck with a baton by police at the Richlands watch house in Brisbane, but an investigation overseen by the state's corruption watchdog found the use of force was lawful and reasonable.

A Commissioner from Queensland's Family and Child Commission (QFCC), Natalie Lewis, said at the time: "That's violence, violence against a child… whether they're 10 years old or 17 years old."

"This is a child in an environment where they are owed a duty of care."

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