25 July, 2016 16:45
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The Northern Territory Government has today announced plans to stamp out as many cases of videotaped child abuse within correctional facilities as possibly, shortly after sacking Corrections Minister John Elferink in the wake of the damning ABC Four Corners report into the mistreatment of teenage prisoners.
In response to the comments made by, the CEO of the North Australia Aboriginal Justice Agency, Priscilla Collins, who says the NT government was aware of abuse in its youth detention centres for years, Mr Giles said this was exactly his point.
“Leaked examples of torture and child abuse in the juvenile justice system have been around for far too long. It’s time to put an end to it once and for all,”
The videos that both Mr Giles and Mrs Collins were referring to appeared on last night’s broadcast of 4Corners, footage that the Chief Minister for the Northern Territory described as “undoubtedly horrific footage”.
In one video, a 17-year-old is hooded, shackled to a ‘mechanical device’ chair and left alone for two hours.
In another, a guard is heard saying ‘I’ll pulverise the f**ker’ as a youth in isolation bangs at the windows.
Mr Giles says the fact that this incident occurred was a blight on his ministry and the proud history of the Northern Territories prison complex.
“It is our duty to stamp out this culture and see what we can learn from it. It’s unacceptable.”
‘We have here a very troubling state of affairs where clearly there has been mistreatment of young people – on camera’
Actually pretty close to reality. Spin over substance