Former inmate claims juvenile wing of adult prison was a house of horrors

Dion said he was speaking out to highlight the mistreatment of young inmates, which he claims was rife, and to seek an investigation into his specific complaints, including an alleged culture of cover-ups by Corrective Services guards.

Fairfax Media understands that after he was charged, Dion was taken to BCC and forced to spend his first five days inside the prison’s S3 unit, known by inmates as "the Suicide Unit", which was only supposed to house young inmates with serious mental health issues.

“I had to go there when I first went in,” he said.

“I’ve never had any problems with suicide or any mental health problems in custody.

“But I found out they put me in there because S2 was over-capacity. All 24 cells, which were only supposed to have one person, were doubled up.

“There were 48 inmates in the unit and they couldn’t fit in any more.

“It was only when people in S2 trickled out - got bail, finished their sentence or moved up to the adult prison or whatever - that there was space. That’s when I got moved into S2.”

The teen said he found himself losing track of time in S3 because there was no clock or communal TV.

“You get out of your cell for one hour a day, in the yard by yourself; which is supposed to be for your safety,” he said.

“It’s hell. It’s very backwards. I don’t know how they can expect people to come out of custody feeling normal after being in inhumane conditions.”

Dion claimed the S2 juvenile unit was run at 200 per cent capacity during most of his detention.

But he claims the biggest problem he witnessed inside was staff colluding with each other to cover up alleged mistreatment of inmates.

“The biggest problem I think they’ve got, without a doubt, is the corruption and misconduct between staff members,” he said.

“For example, staff organising to get other inmates assaulted by other Corrective Services officers.

“Whenever a fight broke out, the staff would call a code, tell us to go into the yard, instruct us not to look through the yard windows and say ‘or you’ll end up like him’.

“That’s because they would go and bash the inmates involved in the fight.

“One female guard told us during muster, ‘If you want to fuck up, I will personally take you to your shower recess where there’s no cameras and give you what I call my personal counselling session’.”

Dion told Fairfax he understood this to mean that if anyone got in a fight and caused her to fill out paperwork, she would bash them in the shower.

“Overall, I felt not only were the staff very corrupt, they were treating us as if we were grown men.

“They’ve never been trained to look after 17-year-olds. They don’t know how to handle it, and I don’t think they should have been there in the first place.”

He recalled an occasion where one boy “got mouthy” with an officer and was screamed at by staff.

“Five minutes later, one of the officers walked out of the boy’s cell and through our communal area with blood on his shirt collar,” he said.

“The boy was not let out of his cell until the next morning.

“I believe they left him there so none of us could see the injuries inflicted on him by staff.”

Dion said young inmates who were injured in a fight were supposed to be seen by the nurse or medical staff but he alleges this did not always happen.

“The medical staff that come in are part of Queensland Health, they’re not part of Queensland Corrective Sevices (QCS),” he said.

“So if they need to come into the unit, that’s left up to the QCS staff in the unit.

“But if staff have just bashed an inmate - well, guess what - [we] don’t get medical attention.

“On another occasion, I was assaulted by a boy who accused me of tampering with his breakfast. He punched me in the head when I wasn’t looking, and I fell to the ground blacking out for a few seconds,” he said.

“The staff called a Code Yellow to intervene.

“A male officer took him away for assaulting me and slammed his head against the door, which wasn’t necessary. It was really hard. He could have just pulled him away but he took it a little bit too far.”

The teen claims the young assailant was then handcuffed and taken into his cell by a female guard where she kicked the back of his legs away from him in his shower recess.

“He fell and slammed his head against the brick wall. Everyone saw it because his cell door was open," he said.

Dion said his aggressor was put into separation for seven days, his window was "papered over" so no one could see in, and he was left locked up in his cell for 23 hours each day; actions the teen believed were “wrong and inappropriate.”

He also alleged that a male guard abused the protocol requiring a head-count check to be done on cells at 8pm each night.

“I was in a ‘walk-through’ cell with another boy at the time, which meant our cells shared the same shower recess and toilet,” he said.

“I saw a male guard look in to check if my cellmate was in his cell. But he couldn’t see him in his cell through the window because he was taking a shower.

“So, he shone his torch up (to the ceiling) at the mirror dome to see if he was in the shower. But he kept the torch on and stared for 30 or so seconds.”

Dion also claims the guard “perversely” lingered longer than he thought was necessary to perform the head-count and that the experience left him feeling “disgusted.”

“[The guard] was smiling and everything,” he said.

“He might have thought it was a joke but we didn’t think so.

“My cellmate was uncomfortable - he was having a shower.”

During a conversation with a different male guard, the teen recalled asking the officer why he didn’t want to take a permanent posting to work in the boys’ yard.

He responded: ‘Because I’d get too excited.’

“He was serious, it was intimidating,” he said.

While working in the prison kitchen, the teen alleged he saw inmates contaminate the food while staff turned a blind eye.

“A dead spider was put in one boy’s food,” he said.

“Another time, the kitchen workers rubbed toast over their genitals before they served it up.

“Staff never knew what was going on and didn’t supervise the kitchen workers.”

One of the most serious allegations Dion made to Fairfax Media was that a guard left a storage cabinet unlocked containing hammer-tone paint, a special lacquer that looks like hammered metal when dried. This was used to coat the unit’s tables and chairs to make them scratch-resistant.

He recalled seeing one boy being taken out in a wheelchair with “a gas mask” to a waiting ambulance not long after the incident.

“Leaving that storage cabinet unlocked led to half the unit stealing the paint and getting high off solvent abuse,” he said.

“The entire unit was searched for bottles containing the paint and staff brought stretchers, wheelchairs and oxygen tanks in.

“The staff were required to lock this storage door every time it’s unlocked, but they failed to do it on this occasion.

“Everyone knew about it but it was never fully investigated.”

Dion said in speaking out, he hoped his story would shine a light on the plight of young inmates in the system who were too scared to speak out.

"I want to advocate for the basic human rights of all inmates in custody no matter their sexuality, race, religious beliefs or mental health; particularly the young people in the system," he said.

An inquiry into corruption in Queensland corrective services facilities is under way by the Crime and Corruption Commission's (CCC) Taskforce Flaxton led by chairman Alan McSporran.

In the review's terms of references, the CCC states the number of allegations has been increasing "and it is reasonable to also suspect a level of non-reporting in the sector."

The public hearings of the taskforce are currently adjourned and are due to recommence in August 2018.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Queensland Corrective Services Commissioner said: “This matter is presently under investigation by the Queensland Corrective Services Ethical Standards Unit, and is subject to a public interest review by the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC).”

Queensland Corrective Services Minister Mark Ryan said: “I would encourage anyone with concerns about misconduct or corruption in relation to Queensland corrective services facilities to take those concerns directly to the CCC.”

A spokesman for the Crime and Corruption Commission was unable to comment on the teen's specific complaints.