Soon after commencing as Interim Commissioner for Children and Young People, I visited Ashley Youth Detention Centre for the first time to perform my statutory role advocating for young people in detention.
Like many Tasmanians, my view of Ashley had largely been shaped by headlines and public commentary.
During my visits, however, I met young people who were thoughtful, engaged and doing their best to meet the expectations placed upon them in detention.
What shocked me was not their behaviour, but something else entirely that has shaped my advocacy since.
Every day, children and young people at Ashley, some as young as 13, are placed in isolation, sometimes for extended periods, for reasons often beyond their control.
Here, isolation means being “locked down” or prevented from contact with others, with limited access to meaningful activity, and uncertainty about when the experience of separation will end.
Any reasonably-minded Tasmanian would be appalled by these circumstances.
Being detained, away from your family and community is already isolating.
Being confined to further isolation within a custodial setting is nothing short of double punishment.
Worse still, most young people at Ashley are on remand and have not been convicted of a crime.
They pay the price of isolation twice because the state fails to provide adequate accommodation alternatives.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is clear: the detention of children should be a measure of last resort.
In Tasmania, underfunding and policy inertia mean isolation is too often used where other diversionary options should be available.
The Tasmanian Government’s Youth Justice Blueprint 2024-2034 recognises these challenges and, if fully delivered, could help address the shortage of accommodation and support options contributing to the overuse of detention, and the repercussions of isolation felt by young people.
Yet in 2026, I am advised that planned work to update isolation policies at Ashley remains unfinished.
Three years ago, the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings also had much to say about the harmful use of isolation.
It examined the use of isolation at Ashley, was critical of its overuse, and made several recommendations aimed at legislative and policy reform. Implementation of these recommendations is now also behind schedule.
While reforms remain pending, young people continue to enter a system lacking appropriate alternatives, and the harms of isolation continue to occur today.
In this context, I directed my team to undertake a detailed examination of this issue, focusing on the lived experience of young people, with the view to identifying practical ways of lessening harm.
I have since published a report You’ve Got Nothing Else to Do: Making Isolation Less Harmful – Views from Young People at Ashley Youth Detention Centre, outlining recommendations to reduce the harms of isolation and better uphold young people’s rights and developmental needs.
My report calls on the Department for Education, Children and Young People, which is responsible for operating Ashley, to improve communication with young people before, during and after isolation; ensure access to structured programs, activities and case-management; and to work with young people to improve their access to appropriate and individualised activities and resources while in isolation.
In responding to my report, the Department has accepted some, though not all, of my recommendations.
While this commitment will improve the experience of young people in its care, I will continue to advocate for full implementation.
I note that in recent months, some operational factors, including a more stable workforce and fewer young people being detained at Ashley, has had some positive impact. While this is welcome, long-term improvements must be based in policy and practice and not driven by such variables.
I am not the first to call for changes to the use of isolation, nor, sadly, do I expect to be the last.
Young people who are detained in the future may take some comfort in knowing the soon-to-be-established Commission for Children and Young People will have a dedicated function to monitor and review the use of isolation.
For those in Ashley today, experiencing these conditions now, this is no comfort at all.
While long-term reform remains essential, there is nothing preventing us from taking practical steps now to lessen the harms of isolation, improve conditions and better protect the rights and wellbeing of young people in state care.
I encourage those already working hard to improve conditions at Ashley to stay the course.
I implore the Government to accelerate the implementation of sorely needed reform.
And I encourage all policy and decision makers, and all Tasmanians, to read my report, and to learn more about life at Ashley, including through the words of young people with lived experience of isolation.
Tasmania, we can and must do so much better.
Ros Cornish AM
Interim Commissioner for Children and Young People
Media Contact:
Mark Thomas, M&M Communications
0422 006 732