Four Corners: CCTV footage shows repeated victimisation of Dylan Voller in NT youth detention centres

Updated

Shocking vision of a young boy being repeatedly victimised while in youth detention facilities in the Northern Territory has been obtained by Four Corners.

Key points: Four Corners discovers mistreatment was basis of lengthy investigation

Investigation details serious concerns about Dylan Voller spending extended periods of time in solitary confinement

Witnesses and child detainees say Mr Voller was repeatedly targeted by guards inside

The incidents, which occurred between 2010 and 2012 at the Alice Springs and Don Dale Youth Detention Centres, show him being forcefully stripped naked, held in a hog tie position, carried by the neck and thrown across a room as well as being knocked to the floor by staff.

The victim is Dylan Voller, who was between 13 and 14 at the time.

WARNING: This story contains graphic images.

Four Corners has discovered the mistreatment was the basis of a lengthy investigation by the former Northern Territory children's commissioner Dr Howard Bath.

The full investigation was presented to the government in 2012, but it was never publicly released or tabled in parliament.

It details serious concerns about Mr Voller spending extended periods of time in solitary confinement and being the subject of "inappropriate and excessive force".

Dr Bath said the government was warned well before the tear gassing of six boys in 2014 that action had to be taken.

"In 2012 the occurrence of this sort of response to young people in detention was made known to the various authorities in youth justice," Dr Bath told Four Corners.

"Specific recommendations in 2012 were made about safer ways to intervene, to provide training, to provide support, supervision for the workers involved so that harm would not occur to the young people."

But the incidents continued.

Witnesses and child detainees, speaking for the first time, have told Four Corners Mr Voller was repeatedly targeted by guards inside.

Guard tried to cover up CCTV

CCTV obtained by Four Corners shows a prison guard attempting to conceal the CCTV camera in Mr Voller's cell with wet toilet paper before threatening and standing over the cowering boy on August 16, 2014.

This incident occurred just five days before Mr Voller was tear gassed along with five other boys on August 21.

Mr Voller's lawyer Peter O'Brien said it was fortunate the attempt at obscuring the CCTV footage was unsuccessful.

"We can only guess what his intent might have been had he managed to conceal the image being captured by that video footage in that room," he said.

"It is fair to say that he has been set up on a number of occasions by people working in a place that should be protecting and looking after him."

The vision is part of a chilling catalogue of evidence obtained by Four Corners showing a pattern of isolation, deprivation, tear gassing and mechanical restraint of children in Northern Territory youth detention centres.

Mr Voller is now 18 and is being detained in the Darwin Correctional Centre for adults.

With the support of his family, he has given his permission to release the videos to Four Corners to expose his treatment in youth detention.

Mr O'Brien said CCTV vision demonstrated his client had been victimised over a number of years.

"He's been assaulted, he's been battered and we say those incidents have been unlawful.

"He wants … to ensure that this doesn't happen to others, so that other kids are not treated in a similar manner."

Charges brought against staff, all found not guilty

In several graphic CCTV recordings Mr Voller is also forcefully stripped naked and left cowering in his cell.

The removal of his clothing is part of the "at-risk" response used when prisoners threaten self-harm, according to Dr Bath.

"I found that a humiliating procedure and if it wasn't so tragic it would be farcical because it's actually called the 'at-risk' procedure," Dr Bath said.

"It is used when a child is considered to be at risk of suicide … I cannot see how traumatising a young person like that can be in any way therapeutic.

"Our system should be there to rehabilitate, to support and to care for these young people. We want them to return with some hope for a better future."

Charges have been brought against the staff involved in three incidents.

In all three cases they were found not guilty under provisions of the state's Youth Justice Act.

Solicitor Ruth Barson from the Human Rights Law Centre said the videos showed the need for immediate action and government transparency.

"They've done exceptionally well at keeping this private and making sure the public isn't aware of it," Ms Barson said.

"I think anybody who watches this footage would be deeply distressed, I would hazard a guess that it is unlike anything that many people in Australia have seen."

Review says cases 'isolated'

A 2015 independent review commissioned by the Northern Territory Government found no evidence of a "systemic culture of unreasonable use of force" but did find there were "isolated cases where staff [had] used inappropriate force and/or [had] intimidated detainees".

Corrections Minister John Elferink told Four Corners when complaints were lodged, incidents would be investigated.

"Where there has even been a suggestion of criminality we've looked at it. Unfortunately these kids come into the the system, these juveniles come into the system pre-broken and we have to cope with them, particularly when they are violent," Mr Elferink said.

"The system has challenges, there's no doubt about it, which is why the system has been so substantially improved in the last four years since I've had control of it."

Solicitor Jared Sharpe, of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), hit back against Mr Elferink's claims, calling for immediate independent oversight of the entire youth justice system.

"I find that extraordinary. If you don't think that the circumstances that we've seen in the Northern Territory justify independent oversight, what would?" Mr Sharpe said.

"I would not be surprised if there [are] a number of children who have experienced horrific things who have never come forward about what they have experienced."

Topics: youth, law-crime-and-justice, states-and-territories, child-abuse, nt, darwin-0800, alice-springs-0870

First posted