Don Dale staff barricaded in office for up to an hour during riot

UNDER-siege youth justice officers were forced to barricade themselves in an office for up to an hour as detainees rioted at the Don Dale Detention Centre

Armed police officers outside the Don Dale centre at the height of the stand-off. Picture: Keri Megelus

UNDER-siege youth justice officers were forced to barricade themselves in an office for up to an hour as detainees rioted at the Don Dale Detention Centre.

The NT News understands three youth justice officers had to lock themselves in the office of the detention centre’s K-block on Tuesday night after detainees stole their keys and attacked them with a metal bar in what’s been described as a “premeditated attack”.

It’s understood one of the detainees seized the keys from a youth justice officer while another used a metal bar that had been stashed away earlier to attack staff.

Smoke billows from the Don Dale centre after parts of the facility were set alight. Picture: Keri Megelus

The three youth justice officers had to barricade themselves in the office for an hour before heavily armed police from the Territory Response Group came to their rescue.

Some staff believe the disturbance at Don Dale had nothing to do with the facility’s ageing infrastructure, but has instead been driven by a new management regime that has removed consequences for poor behaviour.

Detainees no longer lose privileges such as televisions or later lockdown times under the changes brought in earlier this year, and the centre’s high-security unit has had its bars removed after the royal commission ordered it be shut down.

Concerns have also been raised about serious understaffing following roster changes implemented earlier this year that saw many staff knock off at 4pm, two hours before lockdown.

A youth is taken from the detention centre in the back of a police van. Picture: Keri Megelus

The changes were implemented on the back of recommendations from the royal commission which had expressed unease about staff working long shifts.

But workers say this has meant the facility is often understaffed after 4pm.

Deputy Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro on Wednesday called for Don Dale to be brought back under the umbrella of Corrections in response to the unrest.

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“What we’re seeing at the moment is Territory Families having to rely on Corrections to come in and support them in that facility, we want to flip that on its head,” she said.

“Then Territory Families can come in and provide the support that’s required to ensure that young people are put on a better pathway.”

Chief Minister Michael Gunner did not rule out involving Corrections staff but his deputy, Nicole Manison, said the current arrangement was working.

Some of the damage from the riot as seen in the light of day on Wednesday morning. Picture: AAP Image/Glenn Campbell

“There’s no doubt that even when Corrections managed the old Don Dale that they had plenty of issues there too,” she said.

“An adult corrections model does not fit into youth detention, that’s what the evidence tells us.”

Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield said Don Dale’s replacement would be “a totally keyless system”, using thumbprint technology which would prevent similar incidents.