The Northern Territory government is launching an investigation into what the Chief Minister says was an ‘ideologically driven’ design of the new Holtze Youth Detention Centre. Last week 6 youth detainees causing $200,000 of damage to the facility and the government wants to know how the design was approved.
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00:00Convict teenagers on a vandalism spree, sparking an investigation at the highest levels of
00:08government.
00:09Last week the government released images from inside Darwin's brand new youth detention
00:14centre.
00:15This week they're looking for answers.
00:17Who in their right mind would put porcelain sinks in a prison?
00:21The Corrections Department preparing an internal investigation into how the walls and internal
00:26wiring of a prison could be destroyed so easily.
00:29We did not consider that young people would be able to use some of those materials to
00:35cause extra damage.
00:37The design of the youth prison, costing $3.3 million, was signed off by the Department
00:42of Territory Families in early 2020, promoting materials described at the time as normative,
00:48technology rich and youth appropriate.
00:51The Chief Minister not holding back.
00:53What we had is a Labor government driven by ideology.
00:56They wanted this facility to be some sort of hotel rather than a correctional facility
01:01and what they did is make choices which means it's not fit for purpose.
01:05A 2016 design brief for the youth prison called for a facility built with secure and robust
01:11materials but with a campus-like feel.
01:14The Labor opposition said in a statement that its design was in line with Royal Commission
01:18recommendations and that the government should simply get on with the job of properly managing
01:23the facility.
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