The National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls condemns the abuse of children confined in children’s prison and government institutions, following the arrest of a 73-year-old man over alleged historical sexual offences involving 29 victim-survivors.
The man has been charged with 55 offences allegedly committed between 1978 and 2003, including offences connected with the former Magill Training Centre in South Australia.
These allegations are before the courts and must now be determined through the legal process. But the broader history of violence inside children’s prisons cannot be treated as either new or surprising.
Children caged in these institutions have spoken about abuse, sexual violence, strip searching, intimidation and institutional cover-up for generations. Too often, they were disbelieved, silenced or warned that speaking out would bring further punishment.
Cat Carter, a Ngarrindjeri woman, National Network member and survivor of Magill Training Centre, said:
“It was well known in Magill Training Centre that abuse was happening in both the girls’ and boys’ wings. We saw it. When we tried to talk to officers, they would shut us kids down. Even when we found an officer who would listen, they would tell us not to speak about it because there would be trouble.
“This is why I am supporting Senator Lidia Thorpe’s bill. When we are children in prison, we are vulnerable to abuse and violence. Strip searching is another way officers can target children, isolate them and exercise power over their bodies. No child should ever be forced to remove their clothes for the state.”
The Network said the arrest demonstrated why the Crimes Amendment (Prohibiting Strip Searches of Children) Bill 2026, introduced by Senator Lidia Thorpe, is so critical.
Strip searching is not a minor procedure or an ordinary security measure. It gives adults employed by the state extraordinary access to children’s naked bodies in institutions already characterised by extreme power imbalances, secrecy and impunity
Tabitha Lean, formerly incarcerated woman and National Network member, said:
“Whenever abuse inside an institution finally becomes public, governments speak as though no one could have known. But the children knew. The children spoke. The state simply chose not to hear them.
“You cannot claim to protect children while authorising officers to order them to strip, expose their bodies and submit to degrading scrutiny. Strip searching conditions children to believe that once they are imprisoned, adults in authority are entitled to access their bodies. Senator Thorpe’s bill is an urgent safeguard, and every parliamentarian who claims to care about children should support it.”
The Network warned against treating Magill as an unfortunate institution from another era. Children continue to be caged, isolated, restrained and strip searched throughout Australia today. The buildings and policies may have changed, but the conditions that enable abuse, including secrecy, disbelief of children and unchecked institutional power, remain.
Debbie Kilroy, National Network founder and CEO of Sisters Inside, said:
“These charges concern alleged offending stretching across decades, but governments must not pretend the danger belongs to the past. Children are still being put behind walls, beyond public view and under the control of adults who hold enormous power over every part of their lives.
“Strip searching is state-sanctioned sexual violence. It violates children’s bodily autonomy and creates precisely the conditions in which further abuse can be normalised, concealed and denied. Parliament must pass Senator Thorpe’s bill and end this practice immediately. There can be no ‘safe’ way to force a child to become naked for the state.”
The National Network stands in solidarity with the victim-survivors who have come forward, those who have not yet been able to speak, and every person carrying the lifelong impacts of abuse in children’s prisons and government institutions.
Their experiences must not be reduced to another historical scandal followed by apologies and promises. Governments must listen to survivors, ensure access to independent and culturally safe support, investigate all allegations fully, and end the practices that continue to expose imprisoned children to harm.
Children told the truth then. Children are telling the truth now. It is the responsibility of governments to listen, and to act.
For further comment, please contact Debbie Kilroy on 0418 762 474.
