Right now, in Australia there is a disturbingly large number of Indigenous children detained in juvenile detention centres and even worse, adult prisons.

Although they make up roughly 3% of the Australian population, young Indigenous people, between the age of 10 and 17, make up more than 50% of all children in juvenile detention centres. Young people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander status are 24 times more likely to be incarcerated than their non-Indigenous peers.

Horrifyingly, at least ten Indigenous children are being held in Victoria's Barwon maximum security adult prison, being treated brutally! Those children don't deserve to be in prison at their age. Yes, they should be punished to be taught a lesson, but not thrown into a cage in their childhood to destroy the rest of their lives! That is appalling! Children, in their age, are meant to be free, running around, having fun and getting an education. Not be locked up in a small, dark cell in handcuffs, for so long that they do not even know what it means to be a child.

If they're not in prison, Indigenous children will have the same opportunities as their non-Indigenous peers and will be educated about wrong decisions and their consequences. They will be better informed if they are taught respectfully at school, instead of being treated like trash in detention centres and prisons.

Save the Indigenous children in Victoria's adult prison from a lifetime of bad decisions. Please, sign this petition.