Young people in Northern Territory detention locked in cells for more than 23 hours a day, report says
A significant increase in prisoner numbers and staff shortages at the Northern Territory’s two youth detention centres have left young people locked in their cells for more than 23 hours a day, a new report has found.
The NT children’s commissioner, Sally Sievers, said: “It is unacceptable that young people are being locked in their rooms for extended periods of time due to shortages in staff.”
The third independent report into the Don Dale and Alice Springs detention facilities also found both lacked a therapeutic framework to guide operations, which had been an ongoing recommendation since 2020.
“A clear therapeutic model of care is needed to underpin all practice,” Sievers said.
“This would significantly increase the safety of both young people and staff and improve the delivery of services.”
The team also found the young inmates were being denied adequate access to education and medical services due to a lack of staff.
The shortages also result in frequent lockdowns and prisoners being confined to their rooms for extended periods of time.
Some young people were left in their cells for up to 23 hours and 45 minutes a day awaiting medical assessment for self-harm concerns.
“Territory Families, Housing and Communities needs to provide adequate numbers of staff and fully prepare them with trauma-informed training, so that these centres have the ability to help young people address offending behaviour,” Sievers said.
The report made 25 recommendations, including face-to-face education for all detainees and for an Aboriginal advisory group to be involved in an audit.
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There were about 60 young people detained in the NT during the February 2021 reporting period, about double what it had been 12 months earlier and including an increase in the number of younger children under 14. The majority were Indigenous Territorians.
In 2017, the final report of a royal commission into the protection and detention of children in the NT revealed systemic and shocking failures, including regular, repeated and distressing mistreatment of young people.
The NT government accepted in full or in principle all 227 recommendations.
Territory Families, Housing and Communities has been contacted for comment.