Department of Corrections on 23 hour lockup of youth prisoners at Mt Eden

The Department of Corrections is responding to criticism from the Ombudsman's Office that it's putting the lives of teenage prisoners at risk by keeping them locked up for 23 hours a day in their cells at Mt Eden. Prison inspections carried out by the Ombudsman have revealed about 70 teenagers are being held among adult prisoners and are allowed out of their cells for only about an hour a day. When the Ombudsman's prison inspector went to Mt Eden in April last year there were 18 and 19 year olds being held in cells for 19 hours a day. Corrections was told by the Ombudsman then that changes were needed but the Department said it wouldn't consider a special youth facility in the prison as the young prisoner population was expected to decrease. The Ombudsman says young people in detention are extremely vulnerable and a lack of environmental stimulation and social isolation can be extremely distressing and potentially fatal. Jeanette Burns is the Department of Corrections' Northern Regional Commissioner.