When a court sentences your child to time in custody, or if a young person is refused bail, they go to a youth detention centre.

Youth detention centres are secure places for people aged 10 to 18. They exist to:

  • protect the safety of the community
  • provide consequences for offending
  • prepare detained young people to live productively in the community.

Rules are set down when a young person enters the detention centre. Poor behaviour is monitored and responded to.

There is a structured routine that usually begins at 7am and ends by 7.45pm, when lights are out. All young people in detention must follow the structured routine.

Movement of young people around the centre is closely monitored.

Current youth detention centres

Queensland currently has 3 youth detention centres.

Cleveland Youth Detention Centre

Cleveland Youth Detention Centre (CYDC) is located in Townsville. It has a bed capacity of 112 and a catchment of Rockhampton and north, and out to the Northern Territory border.

CYDC houses children from north Rockhampton, as far north as Cape York and the Torres Strait, and up to Mount Isa and the Northern Territory border in the west. This area includes Townsville.

A majority of young people at CYDC are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. The school based at CYDC have implemented curriculum and practices that work with Aboriginal English to help young people learn Standard Australian English. CYDC also has regular Elders visits to keep young people connected to culture.

Brisbane Youth Detention Centre

Brisbane Youth Detention Centre (BYDC) is located in Wacol (Brisbane). It has a bed capacity of 162 and a catchment south of Rockhampton and out to the Northern Territory border.

BYDC has built strong connections with several local community organisations and churches who help support young people who are transitioning back to the Brisbane and local communities.

West Moreton Youth Detention Centre

West Moreton Youth Detention Centre (WMYDC) is located in Wacol (Brisbane) next to BYDC. It has a bed capacity of 32. WMYDC is located within its own local catchment area (Ipswich Youth Justice Service Centre and Western Districts Youth Justice Service Centre) which provides an opportunity to build stronger, positive connections between the young people and their communities. The centre focuses on working:

  • inside-out – keeping an outward focus for young people and building community contacts for them from the point of entry
  • outside-in – bringing the community into the centre to work with young people.

Detention centre programs

Our youth detention centres are dedicated to rehabilitating young people and improving their life outcomes. We provide a range of intervention programs and services to support their development during their time in detention.

Structured programs delivered to young people inside the detention centre include:

  • schooling, vocational education and training (run by the Department of Education)
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural programs
  • life skills programs
  • speech and language programs
  • health programs (run by Queensland Health), including mental health and wellbeing, group therapy programs, and problematic substance use intervention
  • sport, recreation and fitness programs
  • programs and supports to help change behaviour.

Read our youth detention centre services road map (PDF, 1.9MB) to learn more about what programs a young person may undertaken during their time in detention.

Detention centre staff

There is a high ratio of youth detention centre staff to a young person.

Detention centre staff are trained to work with young people. Staff help them develop their independence in a healthy way and start to get them ready for adulthood and employment.

Staff are employed by the Queensland Government. They're committed to providing a safe environment for your child and everyone else who enters the centre.

Education

A modified school year for young people in youth detention centres has been in place since the beginning of 2022. Each youth detention centre has a school and young people attend classes for 48 weeks a year.

New infrastructure

The Queensland Government has committed to build 2 new therapeutic youth detention centres in Woodford (South East Queensland) and Cairns, while also looking at a range of interim options to increase capacity.

In the meantime, construction of the Wacol Youth Remand Centre (WYRC) is underway and will open in late 2024. The new 76-bed facility will be operated by Youth Justice and will house young people on remand until the new youth detention centres open in Woodford and Cairns. This will reduce the number of young people in watchhouses and provide them with better access to services.

WYRC will be designated a youth detention centre but will have a unique operating model that leverages existing capabilities by Brisbane and West Moreton youth detention centres to ensure young people have access to a fulll range of educational and therapeutic services.

Operating model

Legislation and our philosophy of youth detention inform:

This is demonstrated visually in our youth detention policy and procedure framework (DOCX, 468KB) or (PDF, 477KB).

A centralised team is responsible for:

  • practice reform, support and development
  • maintenance and publishing of youth detention policies and procedures
  • maintenance and publishing of the Youth Detention Centre operational manual, related appendices and other documents.

To ensure the manual and policies remain relevant and accurate, this team works with youth detention centre staff and other stakeholders, and considers relevant findings and recommendations made by oversight agencies.

There is also a central practice support consultative committee that oversees all youth detention issues across the state, and reports to an agency consultative committee.

Each youth detention centre is managed by an executive director who reports to the Senior Executive Director, Youth Detention Operations and Reform.

All youth detention centres maintain similar internal governance arrangements designed to enhance the successful service delivery to young people in detention. These governance arrangements include opportunities to staff to participate in decision-making about the operations of each centre through a range of forums including local consultative committees.

Each centre also facilitates a range of meetings developed to meet statutory and accountability requirements, including:

  • risk assessment
  • planning for individual young people
  • budget and human resource management.

More information

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Last updated 15 July 2024

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