Overview

• Coroner Philip Urquhart signalled he may invoke the Public Sector Management Act to launch a wider investigation into how Unit 18 was established and run within Casuarina Prison
• The WA Justice Department delivered a formal apology in court, expressing regret and remorse for denying basic needs and adequate support to the 16-year-old Indigenous teenager
• Urquhart reaffirmed his provisional recommendation that Unit 18 be closed urgently until a purpose-built youth detention facility is completed, despite no budget allocation for its construction
• Counsel Assisting presented 25 proposed reforms to address systemic failures, with the justice department supporting all but three measures, including the immediate cessation of Unit 18’s operations
• Evidence at the resumed inquest detailed chronic staffing shortages, prolonged solitary confinement, lack of running water and delayed medical response as factors in Cleveland Dodd’s preventable demise