Images of a teenage prisoner with a spit mask over his head at a Brisbane jail have prompted renewed calls for 17-year-olds to be taken out of adult prisons in the state.

Key points: Queensland the last Australian jurisdiction to imprison 17-year-olds as adults, advocates say

Queensland the last Australian jurisdiction to imprison 17-year-olds as adults, advocates say State Government says it is moving towards removing youths from adult prisons

State Government says it is moving towards removing youths from adult prisons Returning 17-year-olds to youth detention poses safety issues for younger detainees, it says

The 17-year-old was on remand in the Brisbane Correctional Centre at Wacol when the incident happened in 2013.

The images, first published in The Courier-Mail, showed the boy was restrained with handcuffs attached to a body restraint after he ignored warnings and allegedly pressed the emergency intercom in 2013.

He was reportedly left alone for an hour with the spit mask over his head.

Peter Lyons, the director of the Prisoners' Legal Service, said the boy had reported use of excessive force by the officers.

He said the boy was in a cell by himself and had no reading materials, no television and his visits were limited.

Mr Lyons also said the mattress was taken out of the cell so the boy could not sleep during the day.

"When I look at the video I was appalled by what I saw," he said.

"[The boy] was pressing an intercom button incessantly and yelling under a door — I subsequently found out that was relating to him asking for more toilet paper.

"The next thing you see on the video is ... up to six officers entering the cell asking him to face the wall and kneel down.

"There's a lengthy conversation between the prison officers and him - it ends up with him having handcuffs attached to him, and then placed on a restraining belt and then what's commonly known as a spit mask placed on his head.

"My opinion of looking at that and speaking to [the boy] was that course of conduct was adopted by the prison officers to discipline him for what they perceived to be his inappropriate behaviour in pressing the intercom bell and yelling out through the door."

Corrective Services Minister Bill Byrne has told Parliament the "image used in media reports today shows Corrections officers applying a helmet".

"This is used to protect a prisoner from injuring themselves," he said.

"Protective equipment is used in adult correctional facilities when safety and security of prisoners and correctional officers are at risk."

Youth detention system 'complicated'

Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath ordered a review into allegations of abuse at the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville earlier this month.

The decision followed the Prime Minister's decision to set up a royal commission into abuse in the Northern Territory's juvenile justice system after an investigation by the ABC's Four Corners program.

NT youth detainee Dylan Voller was seen in footage aired by Four Corners wearing a spit hood. ( Supplied )

The Queensland Government has condemned the treatment of young offenders in the NT, but insisted spit hoods or masks were not used in Queensland youth detention facilities.

Earlier this month, Ms D'Ath said returning 17-year-olds to the youth detention system was complicated, with safety issues to be considered for younger detainees.

Today, Ms D'Ath said she wanted to see teenagers removed from adult prisons.

"On the issue of 17-year-olds, it is Labor Party policy to see those 17-year-olds to be moved out of the adult system — something that no other government has sought to do since this legislation has been in place since 1992," she said.

"And it is the right thing to do."

Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope said it was not good enough for the Attorney-General to declare spit hoods were not used in youth detention centres.

"They should be banned — they're inappropriate form of treatment for people — they come close to torture," he said.

"The appropriate thing to do is what they've done in Western Australia, which is to provide surgical masks and eye shields to people who work in detention centres."

'Prisons aren't equipped to deal with young people'

Barrister and Youth Advocacy Centre chairman Damien Atkinson said it was outrageous children were still being detained in adult jails.

"I'd like to bring Queensland into line with every other state in Australia and say when you're 17, you're still a child," he said.

"Prisons and prison officers aren't equipped to deal with young people and our government in defending our children to adult prisons.

"It's much worse in somewhere like Lotus Glen [Correctional Centre in far north Queensland] — they have to mix with the adult prison population."

Mr Atkinson said it was not good enough for the Government to say it had a policy to move 17-year-olds from adult prisoners and nothing changed.

"They've had that [Labor] policy since 1992 when Ann Warner was the minister — it's been a long, long time and we've been patient, I think," he said.

"If Queenslanders understood the situation, and hopefully they do now, they'd think it's totally unacceptable."

Mr Byrne said the Government was working on it.

"We've taken those first steps to end that with the automatic transfer to adult prisons of 17-year-olds and we're attuned to it, and the Attorney-General and myself are working on ways in which we can facilitate that policy position," he said.

Mr Byrne said a review would be conducted into the use of the restraints and the spit mask on the 17-year-old.

He said an earlier review found the actions of prison officers were entirely appropriate.

"This occurred during the previous government and of course given the media this morning I've asked that a review of that be conducted by Corrections and that's underway as we speak," he said.

Queensland 'must get in line with other jurisdictions'

Debbie Kilroy, from the prisoner support group Sisters Inside, said successive governments had failed the state's children.

"We're the last jurisdiction in this country that actually locks up 17-year-old children in adult prisons," she said.

"The law must change — they are children — the United Nations has stated that they're children and there's been a number of negative reports from the UN.

"It's time for Queensland to get into line with every other jurisdiction in the country.

"It's time for the Labor Government to step up and protect 17-year-old children in adult prisons and get them out of there."