The WA Corruption and Crime Commission has launched an investigation into allegations of serious misconduct by public officers following the death of an Indigenous teenager found unresponsive at a youth detention unit. Cleveland Dodd spent the past week in a critical condition in hospital after attempting to take his own life. He died yesterday evening.
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00:00 The last words Cleveland uttered to his grandmother.
00:05 He said, "Nana, I'm coming home."
00:07 The reality that he won't, unbearable for his family.
00:11 It's not nice sitting next to the bed watching your grandson
00:14 take his last breath, all because of what a white man done.
00:17 The 16-year-old was on remand in Unit 18
00:21 at the maximum security Cajarena prison
00:24 when guards found him unresponsive inside his cell
00:27 in the early hours of October 12.
00:29 He was taken to Sir Charles Gardner Hospital where he died Thursday.
00:33 The death and its high public interest
00:35 has prompted WA's corruption watchdog
00:37 to take the unusual step of publicly announcing its investigation.
00:41 It will focus on allegations of serious misconduct
00:44 by public officers stemming from the incident at Unit 18.
00:48 The announcement, a surprise to the Corrective Services Minister.
00:52 It's sort of normal practice for CCC to look into matters,
00:57 but they're not investigating this that I know of.
01:00 Last week, the Premier conceded that Unit 18
01:02 did not meet the state's standards for care and safety.
01:06 It's a necessary evil at the moment while we continue to go about
01:09 developing the plans for the new infrastructure
01:12 and reconfiguring the services and the model of care.
01:15 Now he's made a stronger stand.
01:17 I want to see Unit 18 shut down.
01:19 Advocates fear Cleveland's death will be detrimental
01:22 to the already mentally vulnerable children
01:24 that remain in WA's detention centres.
01:27 My concern is that they will sense hopelessness,
01:30 they'll grieve for the brother,
01:32 they'll grieve for their own personal story,
01:35 which is one of bleakness, and it'll be a ricochet effect,
01:39 a ricochet effect of hysteria, not just in Unit 18 but in Banksia.
01:44 Meanwhile, the family of Cleveland,
01:46 understood to be the very first young person
01:48 to die in a WA detention facility,
01:50 have urged the detainees to stay strong.
01:53 wrong.
01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]