Tag: Don Dale

Darwin: Teenage prison riot injures guard and causes $50,000 damage

5 January: A prison riot by teenagers in Darwin has left a guard injured and caused $50,000 worth of damage to the Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre. NT Police were called to the prison about 6:00pm on Sunday after the teenagers armed themselves with broken glass and poles.

The teenagers smashed windows and doors in the prison’s G-block before setting it on fire in the 40-minute rampage. The ABC understands a toaster was used to set fire to a mattress.

One of the teenagers managed to get onto the roof of the prison, but all of the group eventually surrendered after a prison unit responded. Continue reading “Darwin: Teenage prison riot injures guard and causes $50,000 damage”

Darwin: Teenagers escape prison cells

14 September: Two teenagers escaped from their cells at the new prison in Darwin’s rural area but did not get out of the prison precinct. Police said the 16 and 15-year-old males broke out of their cells around 3:00am and were found sitting on the roof of the prison. Duty Superintendent Rob Burgoyne said the pair came down from the roof after an hour and were returned to their cells.

The NT Government decided to move juveniles out of the Don Dale juvenile detention centre after a break-out in August, when five teenagers escaped, with two remaining on the run for almost four days.

A few weeks later tear gas was used against six teenagers who escaped their cells, armed themselves with glass and smashed windows and light fittings. Corrections Commissioner Ken Middlebrook said he believed the teenagers, aged between 14 and 17 years, were protesting being placed in the secure unit after five of them had escaped earlier.

“I think they were trying to create as much damage as they possibly could to disable those cells so that they couldn’t be kept there,” he said. Continue reading “Darwin: Teenagers escape prison cells”