Staff at Tasmania’s Ashley Youth Detention Centre were like a pack of animals, says a former detainee, who claimed workers would break the arms and legs of children in their care.
Erin, who gave evidence to an abuse inquiry under a pseudonym, said on Monday that she was the only girl at the centre when she was sexually assaulted while unsupervised with 10 male detainees.
An inquiry examining child sexual abuse in Tasmania’s public institutions has been told the centre, which has operated for more than two decades, has a culture of brutality and dehumanisation.
Amnesty International has called for the immediate closure of the facility near Deloraine, in the state’s north. The state government has said it would be closed by 2024.
Erin said she was forced to perform sexual acts on detainees, often while guards watched.
She once felt unwell and requested medical help. She wasn’t taken to a nurse but instead “felt up” by a guard.
Erin complained to the state ombudsman, receiving a reply indicating the matter would be handled internally and she would not be contacted again.
She said staff were “pissed off”.
Erin was first taken to Ashley on remand for stealing a packet of corn chips.
She was strip-searched regularly by multiple male guards and was also watched while showering.
Alysha, employed as a clinical consultant at Ashley in 2019 and 2020, raised allegations with management that a senior worker had years earlier been seen standing over a crying, naked child in an isolated room.
She said the worker was still on site 11 months after she came forward and had been seen strip searching a child.