Wagga’s youth detention centre is currently receiving a fencing upgrade as part of a statewide effort to improve security at juvenile jails.
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This comes just as a 16-year-old boy detained at the Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre managed to abscond from custody on Tuesday evening.
However, a Juvenile Justice spokesman said the 16-year-old was in fact on leave when he went missing, and did not actually escape from the centre.
“The detainee was returning back from special leave after working outside the Centre, and absconded prior to re-entering the Centre,” he said.
“He was classified as low-risk at the time.”
Wagga’s police were able to locate the missing boy within four hours, and Juvenile Justice is now reviewing its processes for managing detainees on special leave.
The Juvenile Justice spokesman stressed that the upgrade to security fencing played no part in the escape of the 16-year-old boy.
“The security fence upgrade did not play a role in the escape. The detainee absconded outside of the centre,” he said.
“The upgrade at Riverina will see higher and improved fencing installed.”
The security upgrade is due to be completed by late June.
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