It might sound inconceivable, but a juvenile detention centre right here in Australia has reportedly been locking up children as young as 10-years-old in conditions that rank among some of the absolute worst in the developed world.
The ABC‘s highly revered investigative journalism program Four Corners is preparing to launch what’s looming as one its most controversial episodes ever, after it uncovered footage of the horrendous conditions and abuse enduring by inmates of the Darwin facility.
Preview footage posted to Four Corners’ Facebook shows young indigenous inmates being hit repeatedly with tear gas inside their locked cell before being dragged and forcefully shackled, despite being in obvious pain and discomfort.
Guards and staff at the facility can clearly be heard encouraging each other to gas the teens, repeatedly calling one “an idiot” and a “little fucker.” One officer is heard in the footage saying he’ll “pulverise” the boy.
At the time, the incident was described as a “riot” featuring multiple escape attempts. But the footage obtained by Four Corners reportedly shows that only one boy managed to escape their cell through an unlocked door, and that 10 bursts of teargas were deployed over a 90 second period. Six boys were exposed to the gas, five of whom were still locked in their cells at the time. NT Commissioners at the time claimed that only 2 bursts of teargas were used.
The program is particularly damning of the centre, with lawyers and legal experts who viewed the facility stating on camera that the facility is “child abuse,” “barbarism,” “inhumane,” and that “what’s going on with children in detention here is a deliberate, punitive, cruel policy.“
Children as young as thirteen are reportedly held in solitary confinement in the facility, in rooms that have no air circulation, air conditioning, or fans, have no access to running water, reek of urine and feces, and where inmates are routinely deprived of basic necessities.
The full program, entitled “Australia’s Shame,” is set to air tonight at 8:30pm on the ABC.
Source: ABC News.
