After the Gunner government agreed to adopt the Royal Commission’s recommendation to ban spit hoods and restraint chairs, the NT News can reveal Territory police have increased their use on young people since 2020.

Furthermore the use of spit hoods in police watch houses across the Territory has never ceased.

Data provided by Police to the NT News revealed they used spit hoods 27 times in Territory watch houses since 2018, 21 of those were since 2020.

Police also used restraint chairs on young people six times between 2020 and 2021.

NT Police would not disclose how long the children were put into restraint chairs, but said “a (child) does not remain in a spit hood or ERC (emergency restraint chair) longer than necessary”.

While ages ranged across the use of both devices, a 12-year-old child was restrained using a spit hood in 2019. In 2020 at Katherine police station a 15-year-old was detained in a restraint chair.

The Royal Commission’s 2017 findings clearly prohibited both forms of restraints and described the method as “inhumane”.

Now social, medical and legal experts in the Northern Territory are calling for the Royal Commission recommendations to be fully enacted and youth justice reforms to be truly “therapeutic”.

NTCOSS chief executive Deborah Di Natale said the organisation expected the Territory Government would be true to its word.

“The Territory government confirmed its position in parliament just last year. In a debate on the Labor Government’s new bail laws, Minister Kate Worden told parliament the government would not introduce things like spit hoods or strapping young offenders into chairs,” said Ms Di Natale.

“We would expect in good faith that the Northern Territory Government has been true to its word in banning these measures across all its portfolios.”

UTS Jumbunna Institute research associate Latoya Aroha Rule is calling for a national ban on the use of spit hoods.

Latoya is the sibling of Wayne Fella Morrison, who passed as a result of a death in custody in 2016, which led to South Australia banning the use of spit hoods in 2021.

“Despite a Royal Commission, a commitment to the UN Torture Protocols, and injury and death associated with spit hoods across Australia – the government have still failed to stop using these torture devices,” they said.

“It is abhorrent that South Australia remains the only state to have a blanket ban on spit hoods.”

Latoya, who started #BanSpitHoods Collective, said Australians must refuse to risk yet another death in custody.

“We stand with children, families and communities in demanding an immediate ban on spit hoods in law in the Northern Territory and nationally,” they said.

“This is the only way to ensure children are protected. In addition, we join the call to shut down Don Dale Youth Detention Centre!

“Children deserve a future where their human rights are cemented – a future where spit hoods remain where they belong, as archaic relics of a bygone era.”

Police Minister Nicole Manison defended the Territory’s use of spit hoods by differentiating watch houses from youth detention.

“It’s very important to differentiate between police custody (the watch house) and youth detention (i.e. Don Dale),” a statement from her office said.

“The Police Watch House is a short term place of custody, whereas a detention centre is a long term facility. When a (child) first enters police custody through the watch house they are in their most heightened and emotional state, this can result in very dangerous, confronting and sometimes threatening behaviour, including acts of genuine self-harm.”

The Royal Commission in 2017 condemned the use of spit hoods and stated “it was very unusual to find (their use) was occurring when it had been longstanding practice, certainly in adult corrections, to have protection for staff rather than put a spit hood on young people”.

Ms Manison’s assertions of genuine self-harm are rebuked by medical professionals that claim there are therapeutic interventions that can deescalate the situation.

Danila Dilba Health Service provides medical services to Don Dale under a government contract but has condemned the use of restraint chairs and spit hoods.

Chief executive Rob McPhee said the Royal Commission took expert advice on the harms to children and recommended that they not be used.

“DDHS calls on the government to act in the spirit of the Royal Commission and ban their use in police cells,” he said.

“ … Given the harmful effects of the use of spit hoods, it is understandable that their use would cause emotional distress, fear and physical pain experienced to anyone subjected to them.”

“If the government accepted that these restraints are not suitable for children in detention centres … (they) must acknowledge that the same harms occur in other settings.”

Assistant Commissioner Bruce Porter said the options for police to deal with children at risk of self-harm was “limited with minimal alternate options for ensuring the safety of both (children) in custody and police officers”.

Mr Porter said the use of the restraints was highly controlled through training, policy and instruction and was independently reviewed in every instance.

“Whilst the use of these items is limited in number, the safety they provide to the (children) in custody and to officers caring for them is critical,” he said.

Former NT youth lawyer and Change the Record chief executive Sophie Trevitt said any attempt to excuse the use of spit hoods and restraint chairs in a police station was “alarming”.

“Putting a hood over a child’s face, or strapping a child to a mechanical chair, is barbaric,” Ms Trevitt said.

“It is traumatising and harmful, and was rightly banned in youth detention centres by the Northern Territory in 2016.

“Any attempt to excuse this practice in a police station is even more alarming given that the first 24 hours after arrest are often the most dangerous for a person in custody.

“The Royal Commission was clear: children in the NT have been subjected to horrendous treatment that is failing to keep them, or the community, safe.

“Arresting, mistreating and abusing children traps them in the criminal legal system, instead of supporting them to learn and grow at school and in the community.”

Ms Trevitt called for NT politicians to “stop playing political games with these kids’ lives” and raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 and invest in community based programs, mental health and family support.