“The UN’s expert on torture has said there are no circumstances that justify young people being held in solitary confinement, let alone prolonged solitary confinement”, Ms Barson told Four Corners.
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We all sort of looked at each other in shock that there was kids in these cells, because there was signs of life in there but we didn’t know who was in there or what was happening, or how long they’d been there, ‘ solicitor Jared Sharp told Four Corners.
Chief Minister Giles also expressed disbelief at the Four Corners footage, telling reporters that “like all Australians…”
“This is a shocking state of affairs and we will move quickly to establish what happened, as Gillian Triggs said last night, this needs a thorough inquiry”, he said.
A shocked Turnbull, after a night meeting with Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs Human, NT Chief Minister Adam Giles and Attorney-General George Brandis, said, “We need to get all the facts out as swiftly as we can”.
A still from the ABC Four Corners investigative report.
She told ABC’s Q&A Program on Monday there needed to be an independent government investigation.
Territory Labor Leader Michael Gunner has supported the announcement that there will be a Royal Commission into the Territory’s youth detention centres. “We need to expose the cultural problems, the administrative problems that allowed this type of mistreatment to occur”, quotes Sydney Morning Herald.
“And yet this evidence was not revealed in those inquiries”.
Indigenous Labor Senator Pat Dodson congratulated the Prime Minister for announcing the royal commission, describing the abuse of inmates as a matter of “utter shame”.
The former commissioner into Aboriginal deaths in custody said the issue of incarceration should be further discussed by the Council of Australian Governments.
“A community is judged by the way it treats its children and serious questions were raised by ABC tonight”, Mr Giles said.
“They have a challenging and hard job, one that not many people wish to do”.
However, Mr Giles also noted the powers of custodial officers were governed by polices and procedures and had limits.
The vision is part of an investigation featuring a chilling catalogue of footage revealing a pattern of abuse, deprivation and punishment of vulnerable children inside Northern Territory youth detention centres, as reported by ABC.
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The actions were backed by then-corrections minister Robyn Lambley, who said “restraint of any kind is only ever used as a last resort and only in situations where there is a threat to a detainee or staff”.
