Dylan Voller Granted Early Release After NT Youth Detention Scandal

By

Published

February 2, 2017

Dylan Voller, the teenaged Northern Territory detainee at the centre of the Don Dale Detention Centre abuse scandal and subsequent Royal Commission, has successfully applied for bail – and could secure release from jail as early as Monday.

The Northern Territory Supreme Court granted Voller bail after considering his allegations against staff at Don Dale. You can read some of his (honestly horrific) recollections on his time in incarceration here.

Last year, confronting images of Voller strapped into a chair and covered with a hood were an integral part of ABC’s Four Corners report into institutional abuse at youth detention centres in the NT.

Via Four Corners / ABC.

Voller will be released from a Darwin prison to the BushMob youth offender program in Alice Springs, where he’ll reside for four months.

Discussing the ruling, Judge Peter Barr acknowledged Voller’s release presents a chance to reoffend, but stated his confidence in the “very restrictive” bail terms, which include monitoring bracelets.

Judge Barr noted the bail allowance “will give Dylan Voller the chance to prove his good behaviour,” along with providing “life skills to reintegrate into the community.”

Currently, Voller is serving the final 9 months of an original three year and eight month-long sentence for offences committed in 2014.

Judge Barr said it’d be “a test run to see if the court could have sufficient confidence in Mr Voller,” who will face court again after his time at BushMob to reassess his sentence.

Source: The Australian / ABC.
Photo: Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory.