NT detention centre's use of tear gas on teens 'institutionalised brutality', Amnesty International says
Updated
The use of tear gas on six juvenile detainees in Darwin detention last year was institutionalised brutality, Amnesty International says.
Revelations that teenagers were tear-gassed in their cells in the Northern Territory and later had fabric hoods placed over their heads after being transferred to an adult prison came in a report tabled in NT Parliament on Thursday night.
The report by former NT children's commissioner Dr Howard Bath revealed how the teenagers were treated after the alleged rioting incident at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in August 2014.
The report also found the claims that workers were assaulted in the lead up to the incidents were false and misleading.
Rodney Dillon from Amnesty International said the revelation that teenagers were also held in solitary confinement with no access to water or light for up to 22 hours a day was equally as disturbing.
"Someone must have to take the blame for this and I would really like to know who is going to stand up and be responsible," Mr Dillon said.
"But more so, we want to someone to stand up and talk responsibility about how we [are] going to change the culture so we are treating the kids better so the kids behave better."
Workers weren't trained properly: union
The union representing workers at the youth detention centre has said its members should not be bearing any blame in the tear gassing incident.
The Community Public Sector Union's Kay Densley told ABC that the report into the incident had identified inadequate training and management as factors which led to the incident.
Ms Densley said the youth justice workers were placed in a dangerous position and if the workplace issues were identified the incident would not have got out of control.
"It should have not got that far," Ms Densley said.
"What they had to do was call in the riot squad to do that, but if there was adequate training, protective gear and measures in place it wouldn't have had to go that far."
Ms Densley said she believed that criticism levelled at the youth detention workers by the Corrections Minister John Elferink and Commissioner for Correctional Services was unfair given they did not have the correct training or support.
Mr Elferink has not responded to requests for comment.
Topics: rights, human, community-and-society, youth, law-crime-and-justice, prisons-and-punishment, darwin-0800
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