Don Dale officers fear for their lives after assaults: Data, emails

Youth justice officers fear for their lives working at Don Dale as new statistics show an officer is assaulted almost every second day

STAFF at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre fear someone could be killed amid an escalation in violence that is seeing an officer assaulted almost every second day.

Data obtained by the NT News shows there were 29 assaults against officers between August 22 and October 23, including 11 that resulted in injury.

A leaked email sent by a youth justice officer to senior managers has asked for urgent action to ensure staff safety.

“How much longer before an officer gets killed?” the email says. “We need change and we need it now.

“I have previously worked in Israel where I had Syria and Lebanon firing missiles towards my location, (I was) attacked at knifepoint in Africa and I felt safer than working at (Don Dale).”

Youth justice and emergency management general manager Matthew Varley said the staff did a great job under tough conditions and management was working to address their concerns.

“Just last night I was out meeting with staff at our Don Dale Detention Centre, working with them to listen to the pressures that they’re under, but also to look at how we can make the staffing environment as safe as possible,” he said.

The government overhauled operations in 2018 after recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children.

It has moved youth justice out of the Corrections Department, banned the use of restraints and limited the ability of staff to isolate misbehaving detainees.

CLP Territory Families spokesman Josh Burgoyne called for youth justice to be returned to Corrections, saying the assaults were unacceptable. “When you compound that with the fact that they’re being given fluid suits and stab vests, obviously the working conditions for those people in there must be extremely difficult,” he said.

But Territory Families Minister Kate Worden rejected accusations the changes had made conditions less safe for staff. “If we want one thing it’s we want these young people to see that this is an opportunity to turn their lives around,” she said.

Ms Worden said the government had recruited 56 new staff this year and Don Dale had the highest staff-to-detainee ratios in the country.

“It is not a workplace that doesn’t carry some risk, we are critically aware of that risk and we address that through staff training and procedures,” she said.

A new youth justice centre to replace Don Dale is expected to be ready by the end of next year.

Originally published as Don Dale officers fear for their lives after assaults: Data, emails