Warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: this article contains the name and image of a First Nations person who had died, and are used with permission of their family.
Western Australia’s government has replaced their Commissioner of Corrective Services as the fallout continues from the state’s first ever recorded death in youth detention.
Cleveland Dodd, 16, died in hospital on Thursday, one week after trying to take his own life while being held in Unit 18, a section of the Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre housed within the maximum-security adult Casuarina Prison.
On Wednesday, Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia announced Mike Reynolds, who had been appointed Commissioner of Corrective Services in November 2020 on a five-year term, will be replaced with current WA Police Assistant Commissioner Brad Royce.
“What we’ve done is a reset,” Mr Papalia told media on Wednesday morning.
“We’ve brought in a commissioner with known leadership skills, proven leadership skills, and capability of effecting cultural change and improvement across an organisation, and that’s what we want to have happen.”
Commissioner Royce said his appointment had been fast-tracked, and that he understands the challenges that come with youth detention.
“Corrections has a role in making sure that whilst they‘re in the care, they’re looked after, and when they return to the community, they have better opportunities but it’s something that has to be done,” he said.
“You have people doing a really tough job and if you don’t give them what they need and you don’t support them then you end up with what you deserve.”
WA’s opposition Corrective Services spokesperson Peter Collier has declared former Commissioner Reynolds a “scapegoat.”
“Mike Reynolds is the sacrificial lamb, he‘s the scapegoat for the Labor government, and it doesn’t remotely surprise me on this litany of failures,” Mr Collier said.
“[The Corrective Services portfolio has] been used to highlight their so-called tough on crime rhetoric.
“And in the meantime the lives of inmates, and in particular juveniles, have been put at risk, and that’s the shame of it.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has confirmed a staff member has been stood down as they investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Cleveland Dodd.
“A staff member has been suspended from duty pending the outcome of a departmental inquiry,” a DoJ spokesperson said in a statement.
“The department won’t comment on specific matters under investigation.”
WA’s Corruption and Crime Commission is also investigating Cleveland’s death, which will also be subject to a coronial inquiry.
Unit 18 at Casuarina is used to house the most dangerous youth offenders because of extensive damage at Banksia Hill caused by a series of detainee riots over the course of 2023.
Mr Papalia said his government is still considering reviews of youth detention infrastructure, and has previously said “Unit 18 is not where we want it to be … but it is a circumstance which has been handed to us.”
A report from WA’s Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services in June found Banksia Hill to be in “acute crisis.”