The guard who found a teen with a self-inflicted injury in an adult prison’s youth wing has told his inquest that detainee threats to self-harm were an epidemic.

April 8, 2024

Threats to self-harm had “spiralled out of control” and were an “epidemic” in a troubled youth wing of an adult prison, an inquest into the first juvenile to die in detention in Western Australia has been told.

Cleveland Dodd was found unresponsive in the early hours of October 12, 2023, inside his cell in Unit 18 in Perth’s Casuarina Prison.

The 16-year-old made eight threats to self-harm in the hours before he was discovered by youth custodial officer Daniel Torrijos and transported to hospital, where he died eight days later.

Mr Torrijos told the coroner on Monday that Unit 18 detainees were constantly making threats to self-harm and it was often difficult to determine if they were serious.

“It’s rolled like that for three or four years, a lot of self-harm attempts,” he said.

“It’s spiralled out of control … It’s something that’s like an epidemic, plague proportion.”

The court heard Cleveland’s threats to self-harm on October 12 started after staff working on the night shift ignored his requests for water five times because the day shift told them he’d been given six cups earlier.

He was agitated and angry and had spent most of the day in his cell, which had no running water, and was facing the prospect of having to wait until morning before he was given any more.

The inquest was told that under the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners “drinking water shall be available to every prisoner whenever he or she needs it”.

Mr Torrijos said if he had been allowed to unlock Cleveland’s cell door and give him more water he would have but he was directed not to.

In the 86 days leading up to October 12, Cleveland spent 22 hours or more in his cell per day on 75 of them and had only three hours of schooling in four weeks.

The inquest has also heard it was common for staff to watch movies and other programs while working the night shift.

“It was something you did. It helped you stay awake,” Mr Torrijos said.

“Occasionally late in the night I might attempt to watch a movie.”

The veteran officer said he was never told not to watch television while working and he only did it in his downtime and didn’t do it the night Cleveland harmed himself because it was a “busy night”.

The inquest also heard Mr Torrijos had been investigated and disciplined for failing to properly carry out his duties on seven occasions about two years earlier.

Asked about the finding, Mr Torrijos said he was overworked and it was unrealistic to expect him to be able to complete the amount of tasks assigned to him.

Coroner Phil Urquhart also heard Unit 18’s manager on the night, Kyle Mead-Hunter, had also been subject to disciplinary action in the weeks before the incident but no details were provided.