The head of a leading youth rehabilitation program has warned some inmates in a controversial youth detention centre do not need to be there, amid reports the inmate population has reached a decade high.
New data from the Greens shows an average of 18.5 young people in Ashley Youth Detention Centre in 2025-26, peaking at 19 by the end of the quarter in 2025.
The rise comes despite recommendations from a commission of inquiry stating that the detention centre's inmate population be slowly reduced before the facility is shut down.
Legislative Council member Nick Duigan said the government remains keen to close the facility but was thwarted by the result of the recent upper house vote.
Chief executive of JCP Youth, which runs the popular BEAST program and specialises in keeping high-risk youth out of jail, is hopeful the number will decrease.
Youth have nowhere to go
JCP Youth chief executive Will Smith said the increased number of inmates at Ashley are not serving sentences there, but rather individuals awaiting sentencing and refused bail.
"If a young person presents before the court and doesn't have a suitable bail address, then they'll be held on remand in detention," he said.
"One of the core concerns for us is that young people are being held on remand when they actually don't need to be, or they shouldn't be."
Greens Bass MP Cecily Rosol said the government needs to develop alternative locations for youths ineligible for bail and increase funding for community organisations supporting at-risk youths, such as JCP Youth.
"Our goal is primarily to build a relationship with young people and then connect them with services that offer them clinically based supports," Mr Smith said.
"I think there are definitely areas where we collectively need to be able to invest as a wider community in order to see that number go down."
Increased funding is likely to bring number down
Mr Smith was optimistic that the number of inmates at Ashley Youth Detention Centre would decrease with increased investments from the state government.
He pointed to two funding agreements: one in which the state government set aside $10 million for accommodation services for young people, and a 24-hour youth bail support program accessible after hours.
"I think both of those, combined together, will actually have a really positive impact on the number of young people being unnecessarily held in remand," he said.
Mr Duigan said the state government remains committed to shutting down Ashley Youth Detention Centre once the planned Pontville Detention Centre is completed.