Contact us to discover your options. Compensation may be available.
Australia has a long and shameful history when it comes to youth detention. From the 1950s right through until today, many thousands of young people have experienced severe physical and sexual abuse while locked up in youth detention centres.
Some of these facilities were worse than adult prisons. Teenagers were treated like hardened adult criminals, denied basic rights and subjected to extreme violence and abuse by staff. Little was done to rehabilitate problem teens or to help them heal from past trauma.
Many inmates were manhandled and provoked on purpose to give staff an excuse to abuse and punish them further. Physical and sexual abuse was just a fact of life for many.
Regardless of which detention centre you were abused in, you may be entitled to compensation.
We have pursued cases in NSW, QLD, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory. You may not even need to go to court; there are options both in and outside of court, and we can talk you through these options and choose what is right for you.
Many survivors do not speak up for a long time. Often, they feared retribution from the offender, or else they would not be believed. Many blame themselves and live with feelings of shame and embarrassment that they should not have to carry. It is never your fault; often, the hardest step is to break the silence, reach out, find your voice and seek help.
How to make a claim
The first step is to contact us for an initial consultation. This can be done via our online form or by contacting us to request a phone call from our client intake team. Your information is confidential and will be treated with the utmost care and discretion.
Our solicitors will then review your information, and we will be in touch for a free consultation to discuss how we can best assist you. We will discuss all your options with you, which may include court action, alternative dispute resolution or the National Redress Scheme.
It is critical you get the right advice, as each option comes with various risks and benefits. You may cost yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars by not properly considering all your options.
If, after talking to us, you wish to proceed, we operate on a no-win-no-fee agreement, which we will explain in detail to you. Put simply, if we don’t successfully get you compensation, you won’t pay any legal fees.
Youth Detention Centres we have successfully pursued for compensation
We have pursued youth detention cases all over Australia. Some of the most notorious facilities include:
- Daruk Boys Home
- Mt Penang
- Reiby Youth Justice Centre
- Tamworth Institution for Boys
- Turana Youth Training Centre
- Ashley Youth Detention Centre
- Westbrook Training Centre.
These are but a few, there are many more.
