Former Don Dale youth inmates to share $35m settlement for mistreatment while in prison
Up to 1,200 youths mistreated while in detention in the Northern Territory could share in a $35m class-action settlement brokered with the Territory government.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn says details can now be revealed after the federal court this week ruled against moves to suppress the settlement figure.
The deal covers anyone mistreated while in a youth detention centre between August 2006 and November 2017.
The case was brought by lead applicants Aaron Hyde and Dylan Jenkings, who were assaulted and abused by youth justice officers while locked up.
“Only the people who have walked in my shoes know what we’ve been through,” Hyde said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Our shoes bear those scars and marks. The brothers and sisters who are no longer with us are not forgotten and we send them our love.
“I hope this settlement leads to change to create a better system for the younger mob.”
It’s estimated about 1,200 people could be eligible for a share of the compensation.
The amount paid to each person will vary depending on how long they were in detention, what happened to them, and how many people register for compensation.
“No amount of money will undo the ongoing harm caused by these abuses, but it is an important acknowledgment of the pain caused to hundreds of young people,” principal lawyer Ben Slade said.
“While in detention, these young people were subjected to appalling treatment that included excessive force, handcuffing, strip-searching and isolation in cells.
“These young people may have broken the law, but they did not deserve to be broken by the law.”
In 2017, the final report of the royal commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory revealed systemic and shocking failures, including regular, repeated and distressing mistreatment of young people.
Slade said the royal commission made it clear that the Territory’s youth detention system was damaging children and young people, not rehabi
litating them.
“Our clients hope the royal commission and this hard-fought class action will lead to changes in the youth detention system that mean other young people will not suffer as they did.”
In its response, the NT government committed to closing the most infamous of sites, the Don Dale youth detention centre.
The chief minister, Michael Gunner, also apologised for the stain the issues with youth detention had left on the Territory’s reputation.
“But more than this, I’m sorry for the stories that live in the children we failed,” he said.
“Youth justice is supposed to make our kids better, not break them.”
Notices about the settlement will go out to potential class members from this week, with a federal court hearing to approve the final settlement scheduled for November.