Detainees at Empire Bay

Shadow Juvenile Justice Minister Ms Catherine Cusack has called on the Government. to explain what a group of detainees in plain clothes were doing at Empire Bay, 20 kilometres away from the Baxter Detention Centre after sunset recently.

Two detainees aged 16 and 17, from the detention centre at Kariong, escaped from youth officers at 5.30pm on May 31, at Empire Bay, while on a supervised activity.

The two detainees who escaped custody may have been rock climbing at Wards Hill as part of a range of programs available to inmates of Baxter Juvenile Detention Centre at Kariong, according to Ms Cusack.

"Baxter detainees are supposed to be in their rooms, locked down from 5.30pm to 6pm in preparation for dinner," she said.

"They certainly should not be wandering close to bushland in plain clothes after dark."

Press release, June 1 Catherine Cusack, Shadow Juvenile Justice Minister