Western Australia's Inspector of Custodial Services, Eamon Ryan, has warned he supports the closure of Unit 18 — a youth detention unit located within Perth's maximum-security Casuarina Prison — when it is safe to do so.

"I think Unit 18 needs to close. Having kids in an accommodation wing of a maximum-security prison is just unacceptable," Mr Ryan told National Indigenous Times.

"But I am also concerned that if it closed immediately, Banksia Hill Detention Centre — WA's only maximum-security youth detention facility — would not be able to properly manage the small number of young people transferred as a result of its closure."

A coronial inquest into the death of Cleveland Dodd last December resulted in Coroner Phillip Urquhart recommending Unit 18 be closed "as a matter of urgency".

Cleveland, a 16-year-old Yamatji boy, died on 19 October 2023 after spending a week on life support following a self-harm incident inside Unit 18 — the youth facility within Casuarina Prison, an adult maximum-security jail south of Perth.

Inquest documents show he was held in near-total isolation for most of the 86 days he spent there, with limited access to programs or time outdoors, and that hours before he was found unresponsive, he told staff he intended to take his own life.

Records also show he had been subjected to prolonged confinement at both Banksia Hill and Unit 18 in the months leading up to his death.

Mr Urquhart also recommended a special inquiry into how Unit 18 came to operate as WA's second youth detention centre.

In 2022, the McGowan Government promised a new $158 million, 30-bed youth detention centre to replace Unit 18. However, a state government infrastructure report released in September last year revealed the long-promised facility at Banksia Hill will not be completed until 2028.

Mr Ryan reflected on the mercurial history of Banksia Hill, saying he does not want to risk the centre sliding backwards.

"Anyone I speak to involved in Banksia Hill — including people in the judiciary and advocates — agrees it has made incredible progress," he said.

"I don't want to see that go backwards, because over the last 20 years Banksia Hill has been like a rollercoaster — periods of improvement followed by sharp decline."

In 2013, more than 70 juveniles were transferred from Banksia Hill to Perth's Hakea Prison after a major overnight riot in which detainees armed themselves with makeshift weapons, damaged about 90 cells and forced a four-hour police operation to regain control.

In 2021, the Community and Public Sector Union revealed 22 assaults were recorded at Banksia Hill in May alone, making it the most violent correctional facility in Western Australia at the time.

Social Justice reformer and expert Gerry Georgatos vehemently opposed Mr Eamon's position labelling it "dangerous".

"To say that Unit 18 should only be closed 'when it is safe to do so' ignores the brutal reality that it is not safe now," he said.

"Since October 2023, two children have died within the youth justice system, one of them at Unit 18.

"Unit 18 is a corral on every amoral level. It is an abomination each further day it continues."

Mr Georgatos warned Banksia Hill is not a better alternative to Unit 18 for detaining children, and that delaying Unit 18's closure could pose critical risks.

"There is no special context, no therapeutic infrastructure, and no culturally safe, trauma-informed support at Banksia Hill that makes housing Unit 18 children there safe in the interim," Mr Georgatos said.

"To imply otherwise is to normalise unacceptable risk," he said.

Waiting for "the right conditions" while children remain exposed to harm is not precaution — it is deferral, and deferral in this space can be fatal."