Close Don Dale protest marks one year of activism outside notorious youth justice centre

The Prime Minister has been challenged to visit Don Dale to ‘end this infamy now’ after 38 children spend Christmas in cells.

Protesters have again called to close the nation’s most infamous youth detention centre, after 38 children spent Christmas locked in “crumbling cement cells”.

Close Don Dale group members demonstrated outside the Youth Justice Centre on Christmas Day, exactly one year on from their first protest in 2021.

The group has spent every Friday outside the Berrimah prison calling for youth justice reform, now they have challenged the prime minister to confront the “shame job” inside.

On Christmas Day grandmother Natalie Hunter said children were still being exposed to “inhumane” conditions.

Close Don Dale group member Natalie Hunter demonstrated outside the Youth Justice Centre on Christmas Day 2022, one year on from the first protest

Ms Hunter claimed stories of self-harm, understaffing, ongoing lockdowns and isolation, and assaults inside the prison were ongoing, yet not enough was being done.

“We’ve had children that have self-harmed inside,” Ms Hunter said.

“We’ve had issues around children being beaten by other children while prison guards are standing watching.

“We’re crying out for help. It has to stop.”

Standing outside the centre, Larrakia Elder June Mills challenged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to confront the “shame job” inside the “torture chamber”.

“Prime Minister, you get your arse up here and see what your people are doing to our children,” Ms Mills said.

“There’s no Merry Christmas here.

“We like to go on about them (children) … being the future of the world and our leaders.

“And yet here in Darwin, deadly, we’re torturing them.”

Close Don Dale group member and Larrakia Elder June Mills demonstrated outside the Youth Justice Centre on Christmas Day 2022, one year on from the first protest.

Senior Counsel John Lawrence said it “was a decision of cruelty and torture” to lock the children up in the three-by-two metre “crumbling” cement cells.

Mr Lawrence said all of the 38 children held on Christmas Day were Indigenous.

He also called on Mr Albanese to “end this infamy now”.

“(They’re) kept in isolation in cells unfit for habitation,” Ms Lawrence said.

“Guess what they have for company? Ants and cockroaches, and damp rising and dropping.

“It’s a horror show.”

Close Don Dale group member Senior Counsel John Lawrence demonstrated outside the Youth Justice Centre on Christmas Day 2022, one year on from the first protest.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the federal government was working with each state and territory to reduce youth incarceration, particularly by raising the age of criminal responsibility.

“In this year’s Budget the Albanese Government has committed $81.5m towards national justice reinvestment initiatives across the country,” a spokeswoman said.

“The decision by the Northern Territory to raise the age to 12 is evidence of the progress being made.”

On December 1, Federal Greens said they would introduce a bill next year to close Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.