In the space of just half an hour the Northern Territory government says young people inside Darwin’s new youth detention centre have cause nearly $200,000 worth of damage to their rooms. Youth justice advocates say it is more evidence prisons for traumatised young people, don’t work.
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00:00Smashed wash basins, light switch and intercom panels ripped from walls.
00:08After opening just this week, young people inside Darwin's new youth detention centre
00:12have caused around $200,000 worth of damage, according to the Northern Territory Government.
00:18The basin was non-breakable.
00:19I find it amazing to think they broke the basin.
00:23But why?
00:24Why are they doing this?
00:25You have highly traumatised children.
00:28In a statement, the Corrections Minister alleged in an act of vandalism six detainees damaged
00:34seven bedrooms in just under 30 minutes.
00:36His statement also included images of separate, unrelated incidents of injuries allegedly
00:42caused to youth justice staff in Alice Springs.
00:45Labor focused too heavily on the therapeutic model and not enough on the safety and security
00:51of staff and youth detainees, he said in the release.
00:54Now is the time to redirect those priorities and ensure offenders know there is a consequence
01:00for their actions.
01:01One of those priorities is reintroducing SPIT guards to NT youth detention facilities.
01:08Corrections Minister Gerard Mailey was out in his electorate on Saturday, but declined
01:13to comment on camera about the incident.
01:15For some, a decision to set aside evidence-based therapeutic approaches is heartbreaking.
01:22And it's the children inside suffering the most damage.
01:26They need all the help they can and this government's not giving it.
01:29All they think about is punishment.
01:31As the corrections system remains under immense pressure, the Labor opposition claims young
01:37people have been moved into the new centre without adequate staffing or resources.
01:42Advocates say that's dangerous for everyone.
01:45I don't care what's been spent on the centre.
01:48I worry about the children's lives that have been damaged.
01:51I'm talking about human beings.
01:53Police haven't laid any charges in relation to the property damage and say that's unlikely
01:58this weekend.