New youth jail not on agenda for Alice Springs

NO decision has been made for a new youth detention centre in Alice Springs despite the Territory Government making a recent promise to replace the Don Dale facility in Darwin following national backlash

Detainees are seen on the roof at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Berrimah on Friday, April 19, 2019. PICTURE: KERI MEGELUS

NO decision has been made for a new youth detention centre in Alice Springs despite the Territory Government promising to replace the Don Dale facility in Darwin.

Leading lawyers in Alice Springs have called on the government to make the same promise for the Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre which they deem as not fit for purpose.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner reassured that there will be a new site for the controversial Don Dale Youth Detention Centre following pressure from the Law Council of Australia and the Law Society NT.

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This came after a group of seven detainees at the centre climbed on to the facility’s roof in a tense stand-off with police and centre staff last week. Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield said replacing Don Dale has become a “priority” but there are no plans for a new site for Alice Springs.

“There has been no decision made regarding a site for a new Alice Springs Youth Justice Centre. The current facility has been and continues to be improved to be able to help put kids back on track,” she said.

Anna Gill who works as a regional managing solicitor for the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency said that she is aware of incidents of self-harm and the centre is not ideal for children’s rehabilitation.

“The detention centre is too small and does not have enough room to cope with the number of children being sent there,” she said.

“The result for local Alice Springs children is that they are then sent up to Don Dale where they are over 1000km away from the their families and local services that had been working with them.

“Due to the lack of rooms available for medical professionals, lawyers and visitors this often restricts the amount of kids that can be visited by a doctor and Congress staff on any given day.”

Ms Gill said the state of the centre is not helping the kids come out as better citizens.

“Many children in detention have been exposed to poverty and disadvantage from the day of their birth. Some have been victims of crime themselves and are in desperate need of counselling,” she said.

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