Five hundred days in solitary: Queensland teenager’s case ‘a major failure of our system’

Exclusive: Staff shortages at Cleveland youth detention centre led to teenager being confined to his cell for more than 20 hours a day

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An Aboriginal teenager with an intellectual disability was likely locked in solitary confinement for more than 500 days at Queensland’s troubled Cleveland youth detention centre, in a situation described to a court as a “major failure in our system”.

Michael*, now 19, spent more than two years on remand at the Townsville centre while the children’s court dealt with charges related to a violent sexual attack on a 16-year-old girl.

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