By age 15, Brady Morris thought he knew where his life was headed.

"I was thinking, I'm either going to jail or I'm going to die. Either way, I wasn't going very far," he told 9news.com.au.

Growing up in Armidale, NSW, in the 2000s, he had started down a destructive path that could have turned deadly – and his story isn't unique.

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There were 845 young Australians in detention on an average night in the June quarter of 2024.

Of them, 90 per cent were male and three in five were First Nations.

Keeping one of those kid in jail for a single day costs Australia about $3300, which adds up to more than $1.1 million per year.

In total, the country spends more than $1 billion on youth incarceration annually; almost double what was spent ten years ago ($544 million in 2014-15) when Morris was a teen.

But experts say jailing kids is more likely to harm them than deter crime or reduce reoffending.

"We're putting millions upon millions of dollars into things that are really not passing muster," BackTrack Youth Works Program founder Bernie Shakeshaft told 9news.com.au.

"We've got to start changing systems and doing things different."

Because if we don't, kids like Morris may not get the support they need to stay out of prison or survive to adulthood.

An alternative to incarceration

Morris was struggling when he first met Shakeshaft in his high school principal's office.

About one in five young Australians are disengaged from mainstream education and one in three have reported psychological distress.

Almost 15 per cent live in poverty and 40,000 experience homelessness each year.

Many end up abusing drugs and alcohol, engaging in violence or criminality, and facing jail time.

That's where BackTrack comes in.

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Shakeshaft developed the program in 2005 based on skills he'd learned from First Nations trackers when he was a young man working in the Northern Territory.

The goal was to keep disenfranchised young people in Armidale alive, off the streets, and out of jail by offering education, vocational training and wraparound support in a judgement-free environment.

Without it, Morris doubts he'd be the man he is today.

"It got me thinking about what I was actually doing and where I was going in life," he said.

At BackTrack there were no rules and no one gets kicked out.

Morris wasn't told what to do, he was asked, adults met him on his level, and he developed a sense of independence and belonging he'd never before experienced.

He joined the PawsUp working dog pack and competed at dog jumping events around the state, keeping him out of trouble on Friday and Saturday nights.

Through it all, Shakeshaft kept asking him one simple question: "what is your dream?

By 16, he knew the answer.

Breaking the cycle

Today, Morris is one of many former BackTrack participants who have returned as members of staff.

The father of four is a youth worker across the program's residential accommodation, Core and Works initiatives, supporting young people struggling like he once did.

"My dream is to be the best youth worker I can possibly be and help as many kids as I possibly can," he said.

"Now I'm just chasing that dream and setting that example for my own kids, and the kids I work with."

He's helped kids facing homelessness, addiction, and violence, teaching them resilience and leading them in community initiatives like disaster recovery work.

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Just last week he and a team of kids spent hours clearing a local's property after Armidale was lashed by a sudden snowstorm.

"Seeing those kids at the end of day, knowing they've helped somebody, it's a very proud moment," he said.

Another group of former participants also came up with BackTrack's Night Crew, a new initiative to keep vulnerable young people off the streets and away from crime.

Seeing so many former participants return to keep the work going has been Shakeshaft's proudest achievement over the last 20 years and he knows how integral they are to the program's future.

"Each time I meet with those young fellas I go, who's the next CEO? Who's going to be the next accountant?" he said.

"You have to have the right, caring people and you've got to hang in for the long haul."

Sights set on the horizon

People like Morris are proof that programs like BackTrack work.

But there's only so much they can do on their own and young people need more support in 2025 than ever before.

Youth incarceration is on the rise is multiple states and territories and Shakeshaft is calling for systematic change and better funding for alternative programs that can help lower those statistics.

"The biggest challenge is trying to form a partnership with the government where we can look at holistic ways of looking after kids, and taking a 'child connection' as opposed to a 'child protection' model," he said.

That means funding programs aimed at breaking the cycle of violence and youth incarceration by meeting kids where they're at.

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BackTrack is already working on its 100 year vision and though he's approaching 60, Shakeshaft is in it for the long haul.

"The intention has always been to keep kids alive, out of jail and then chase their dreams," he said.

"But it takes time, and in a world where we want everything to be done just instantly, you can't resolve these things quickly.

"We have to tackle these things wherever the need is greatest [and] putting opportunities in front of young people is the clearest path to success."

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