Later a guard is seen grabbing the boy by the neck and throwing him onto a mattress. He was in custody for a minor offence and on the night in question had threatened self-harm. It shows the boy refusing to put on a safety gown and spitting at staff. The CCTV vision from 2010 was only released by a judge after legal proceedings against the guard involved concluded this month. The methods used by the guards have been described as 'cruel, inhumane and degrading' by a human rights lawyer.īut the Territory's head of corrections, Commissioner Ken Middlebrook, said his staff acted appropriately. Guards who restrained and stripped a teenage boy naked at an Alice Springs detention centre have been given the backing of the NT's corrections boss.ĬCTV footage, obtained exclusively by the ABC, shows the 13-year-old being wrestled to the ground and held down after refusing to change clothes.
