Children are spending up to a week in custody stuck in adult watch houses, with a review finding a police force needs to better equip the facilities.
Queensland Police and its 63 operating watch houses face 34 recommendations from a review into custody management practices.
It found capacity issues were being worsened by increasing time spent by people held in custody.
Adult prisoners spent on average 118 hours in watch houses after they were remanded or sentenced in 2024.
Children were more likely to spend longer in the facilities at an average of 161 hours.
In August 2023, the former Labor state government overrode human rights laws and pushed through amendments to allow children to be held in watch houses.
The average time spent by youths in watch houses had increased every year since 2019 except in 2020, the review showed.
Police processed a total of 78,108 admissions through watch houses in 2024, with about 10 per cent being children.
Capacity issues were not just impacted by length of stay but how these facilities were designed, Police Minister Dan Purdie said.
The government committed $16 million in its recent budget to upgrading facilities.
"A watch house isn't a detention facility, it's certainly not a youth detention facility," Mr Purdie told reporters on Thursday.
"The $16 million already in the budget is for remediation work and upgrades to the watch houses ... that are long overdue for upgrades.
"I hope that's a short-term show of support to our police and staff that work in those trying and dangerous conditions."
The review addresses current and future needs and areas for further development including training, management, facilities, and co-ordination with partner agencies.
The state's law and order branch has 891 beds across 15 super and large watch houses and 48 small facilities.
Not all are single-use facilities with some being attached to courthouses, as seen in Townsville.
The review recommends police start a program for watch house remediation works to address safety issues and privacy concerns for women and girls.
It suggests designated cells or locations for women and girls separate to men in watch houses where permissible under the government funding.
A trial of body scanners in large and super watch houses should also be introduced to enhance safety of staff and prisoners, and reduce the need for invasive unclothed searches, the review found.
Police had introduced body-worn cameras to staff inside watch houses as the review was ongoing.
There were six children being held in the Brisbane city watch house on Thursday.