Jailed teen Dylan Voller could have been rehabilitated if he'd been admitted to a youth diversionary program in Alice Springs, the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory has heard.
Voller first came to public attention in July when footage of him being brutalised by youth detention centre staff was broadcast on the ABC.
On Tuesday, BuzzFeed News revealed that an offer by youth diversionary program BushMob to assist Voller, 19, in maintaining a life away from crime had been rejected by the Parole Board of the Northern Territory.
Voller was eligible for parole in September, but it was not granted.
After BuzzFeed News published the story yesterday Antoinette Carroll, a youth social worker, told the commission that Voller had asked to be admitted to BushMob's six-week intensive residential program in an effort to break an almost decade-long cycle of incarceration.
"That was his initiative," Carroll told the commission. "I should be clear. That was his [idea to attend BushMob]. So essentially we talked about what would be a realistic post-release plan and... I advised him to come up with what he thought was realistic for him. That was what he put forward.
"It’s a therapeutic program. It has bush adventure therapy, counselling facilities, education supports. So it’s a very good program."
Carroll said that Voller had first entered the youth detention system as a non-violent young person suffering from trauma stemming from his experience in the child protection system.
She says the system was "set up to fail" Voller due to the lack of diversionary programs.
"I think in Dylan’s case that he was very much set up to fail due to the overwhelming lack of post-release and reintegration planning," Carroll said.
Voller gave testimony on Monday at the commission detailing a harrowing timeline of alleged abuse from age 11 at the hands of youth detention staff.
Voller's next parole hearing is in February, 2017. BushMob’s facility manager Nirajan Dharel told BuzzFeed News the door is open to him: "I’ve spoken to Dylan. At the end of the day, if Dylan is willing to do it, why not give him the chance? We’ve done everything possible for him to come here.”