Lawyer John Lawrence outraged Don Dale Detention Centre High Security Unit holding more juveniles than any time in past year

MORE children are being locked in the Don Dale Detention Centre’s high security unit now than at any time in the past year

MORE children are being locked in the Don Dale Detention Centre’s high security unit now than at any time in the past year.

The Department of Territory Families has revealed there were 13 male detainees held in the notorious unit as of last week.

That number represented almost half of the male detainees held at the centre, with 10 in medium security and six in the low security section.

Another five female detainees were being held at Don Dale, however the department did not give a breakdown of which sections they were being held in.

Territory Families provided the numbers to Sky News after the Royal Commission into Child Protection and Detention was told the HSU was now “full”.

Speaking at a NAIDOC Week rally in Darwin last Friday, Darwin barrister John Lawrence said it was a “f***ing outrage” that children were still being held in the HSU, which used to be the maximum security unit at the old Berrimah adult prison.

“This is a place where we used to keep our worst serial killers and paedophiles and we’re using it to hold kids,” he said.

When Sky News toured Don Dale last August in the wake of the Four Corners report into youth detention, just two children were being kept in the HSU.

Corrections sources said staff had been making a conscious effort to avoid putting children in the unit under former Superintendent Victor Williams.

Royal Commissioners Margaret White and Mick Gooda raised concerns about the unit with Mr Williams during a visit to Don Dale last December.

But Mr Williams was sacked and staff were ordered to adhere strictly to classification guidelines following the escape of detainees Josiah Binsaris and Trey Mawson in April.

Territory Families deputy chief executive Jeanette Kerr escaped sanction over the escapes, despite misleading the media several times about her involvement in incidents leading up to the breakout.

Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield later said Ms Kerr has “misspoke”, and the department said she had been given further “media training”.

Since Mr Williams was fired there has been a more than 40 per cent increase in the number of children being held in the HSU.

There are growing internal tensions over the decision to move Youth Justice out of the Corrections Department and into Territory Families.

Those concerns grew further after five teenagers escaped from the BushMob rehabilitation facility near Alice Springs last week.

“This was supposed to be the great solution to all of our problems, but we’ve now got more kids in the HSU and more kids escaping than ever,” one corrections source said.

The Northern Territory Government has committed to building new youth justice facilities in Darwin and Alice Springs, however no money was allocated for the facilities in this year’s Budget.

The Government is waiting for the Royal Commission’s final report – to be handed down on September 30 – before deciding on a final plan for the new facilities.

One option being considered is a return to the old Don Dale Detention Centre.