ARCHBISHOP Denis Hart and Anglican Archbishop Philip Freier said they had taken the unusual step to issue the joint statement because they shared a deep concern about the welfare of “the most vulnerable and impressionable children” in the youth justice system.
The Andrews Government last week started transferring teenagers from the Melbourne Youth Justice Centre in Parkville to a segregated wing of Barwon prison near Geelong following riots that left a damage bill of up to $1 million.
But the Archbishops said the maximum security adult prison was designed to contain and manage serious adult offenders, rather than focus on rehabilitating young people.
“While we understand that the government has had to make an emergency response to recent unrest within the system we are gravely concerned that part of that response has resulted in children being transferred into the hardest of adult prison settings:’ they wrote.
“Given that Barwon is a maximum security adult prison, the accommodation of children within it will further isolate them, making visits from family members and friends and those involved in their education, health treatment and pastoral care far more difficult”.
The Archbishops urged the government to find a more appropriate place for these young inmates “that will support their rehabilitation and ultimately reintegration into the community” and offered to provide more chaplaincy services and pastoral care.