To document the architectural design of a new youth custodial model that can address current challenges

Australia’s Youth Justice facilities are certainly broken, but they would be more accurately described as backward. They are designed around outdated ideas that have been thoroughly shown to be counterproductive and harmful, to justice-involved young people, to justice staff, and to our broader society. They fail to provide a safe environment, evidenced by the constant stream of reviews, inquiries, and royal commissions around the country, in addition to the ongoing exposés of abuse and failure uncovered by reporters and journalists, and the often scathing scrutiny of oversight bodies. Staff are getting hurt, children are getting hurt, it costs an enormous amount of taxpayers’ money, all so that young people can come out with worse chances than those they had going in. Moreover, there is no evidence to show that these facilities do anything to reduce offending behaviour. Our youth justice facilities don’t align with what we know helps young people to change their behaviour and their lives for the better. 

In contrast, other places around the world have shaped their justice systems, including their facilities, to give the best chance for young people to build on their strengths and make lasting positive changes in their lives. In the long run, this means safer communities, as well as safer and better working conditions for facility staff. 

This Fellowship focused on one part of this picture - the physical environments of custodial facilities. A well-designed facility can help to mitigate some of the challenges faced in custody. It can influence the ways staff and children interact, reduce levels of stress and aggression, and improve the conditions for education, engagement and behaviour change. The Fellowship looked to understand how facility design relates to the best practice, evidence-based models of care used by forward-looking jurisdictions, in countries that are culturally similar to Australia. 

This Fellowship report (available for download via the button above) is to inform policymakers, advocates, academics, youth justice workers and designers. It sets out the principles by which new youth justice facilities will be designed in Australia from this point forward. Further, it provides a dense body of information to assist researchers and designers in realising these designs effectively.