The state government will reopen the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre to accommodate spiralling levels of youth offenders in custody due to the state’s new strict bail laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It comes despite claims made to the Midland Express<\/em> by the Department of Justice just weeks ago that there were no plans to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has confirmed an initial 30 beds will be opened as part of a new model at the MYJC, as remand rates for young people have increased by 46 per cent year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “These beds will be for a lower-risk cohort aged 17 years and over \u2013 freeing up more custodial beds at Cherry Creek and Parkville Youth Justice Centres for serious high-risk offenders,” a department spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The new model at Malmsbury will deliver a more intensive program of education, vocational training and job opportunities for this lower-risk cohort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It will also allow more tailored programs to be offered to young people at Cherry Creek and Parkville. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “This includes recent changes to the Youth Justice Act allowing rehabilitation programs to be offered to young people on remand \u2013 not just when sentenced.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The spokesperson said 114 staff members would be recruited to work at the centre and works would begin immediately to upgrade infrastructure and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Extra beds will come online in a staged approach from early next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The troubled centre was the scene of violent riots in 2023 in which 13 inmates armed themselves with improvised weapons, threatened staff and brutally bashed and humiliated rival inmates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In January of 2017, another riot at the centre led to a mass escape of inmates who later went on a rampage of assaults, armed robberies, aggravated carjackings and other serious offences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The state government will reopen the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre to accommodate spiralling levels of youth offenders in custody due…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":26745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[3029,1182,1076],"ppma_author":[5225],"class_list":["post-26743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","tag-department-of-justice-and-community-safety","tag-malmsbury-youth-justice-centre","tag-victorian-government"],"yoast_head":"\n