No one cares about prisoners.

Especially if they're Aboriginal or young or both.

It's an immutable law in politics: so long as those who are inside prison (which are mainly Indigenous) stay inside, voters on the outside (which are mainly non-Indigenous) don't care.

However it was a decision at the start of this month made by the WA Department of Justice which challenged this immutable law.

Some 17 detainees have been "temporarily" moved from Banksia Hill Youth Detention Facility to Casuarina Maximum Security Prison.

Notionally, it's because the purpose-built youth detention facility can't cope and needs to have work done to 'harden' the infrastructure even more.

https://www.nit.com.au/pepper-spray-and-zip-ties-grandmother-tells-of-banksia-hill-horror/

The move was met with universal condemnation from the President of the Children's court, lawyers, advocacy groups and WA's daily newspaper.

The West Australian, which has done more to progress Indigenous issues under the stewardship of Anthony DeCeglie in the past five years than they've done in the preceding 50, took a hard line against the incompetency of this decision.

It would seem none were content to swallow the idea from the Department of Justice this move was necessitated children hell-bent on destroying public infrastructure. .

The agency which has nearly a billion dollars of cash tried to say they had no choice but to move these children to an adult jail, but no one believed it.

It would be a joke if the issues weren't so serious and the response so extreme.

I'll make it very clear; these kids are inside for a reason.

If they have been convicted of breaking the law, particularly for violent crime, then lock them up.

No one wants them roaming the streets, but whilst there might be only 17 kids inside, it has an impact on all of us.

Firstly, society as a whole has let these kids down.

No one believes that children are born evil or violent.

Something has happened, likely repeatedly, which means that the only response the courts have had is that they need to be separated from the rest of the community.

In WA, kids can be locked up as young as 10 - that is AusKick age.

Which leads me to the biggest impact on us all: what happens when they get out? The 17 have been moved to an adult jail and the Department of Justice has shown it is incapable of rehabilitating these young people.

So would it be of any surprise to us that they reoffend again?

The Justice Department is already so bad at rehab that 42 per cent of prisoners reoffend within two years of being released.

What will that look like for these young people when they get a taste of freedom again?

There are plenty of things that need to be fixed to break the cycle where generations upon generations of Indigenous people end up in jail.

The problem now is that the system has broken down at every critical point that now not even jails can deal with it apparently.

As much as we might like to ignore those who are inside, the time is coming when we can't turn a blind eye any longer.

Whether we admit it or not, we have all failed these 17 but the question remains what are we doing to stop all hope from being lost for the thousands of other Indigenous kids yet to find their way to jail?

Can we stop it before it begins?

Or will we stick to the immutable law of politics: if you're inside, and you're Indigenous, we just don't care.

• Zak Kirkup is of Yamatji heritage and is the former leader of the Liberal Party in Western Australia