Putting kids in prison can cause them significant harm, entrench disadvantage and reduce their capacity to get back on their feet when released. The system is not working and we need to both divert children away from the criminal justice system and reduce the trauma they experience when they are locked up

There are about 300 young people in custody in NSW and we still don’t know how they are being treated including whether practices like solitary confinement that were exposed in an ABC Four Corners report on juvenile justice in the NT happen here. The Sydney Morning Herald reported in 2016 that young people in custody were locked in cells for 23 hours a day and handcuffed for the one hour they were allowed out. Read more HERE.

I asked questions in Parliament and the minister reported training and new rehabilitation programs, but the independent report into the real state of juvenile justice remains secret. A complete overhaul of the system is needed. Read my questions and the minister's response HERE.