Taxpayers spent $1.1 billion a year imprisoning children as detention numbers rise across Australia, an increase of $100 million in one year. The Productivity Commission’s latest Report on Government Services released late on Thursday shows youth detention spending has surged by $400 million in five years. Youth detention costs an average of $1.3 million per child per year, or more than $3600 a day, according to the data. “In Victoria, youth detention numbers were falling just two years ago,” she said. This is the same failed path we have already seen elsewhere.”Indigenous children remain over-represented in youth detention centres, the report states.