Distressing footage has been released of Aboriginal teenagers at the Don Dale juvenile detention facility in the Northern Territory being sprayed with tear gas in 2014.
The footage shows snippets of an incident that took place in August 2014, involving six teenagers, the majority of them Aboriginal with the youngest 14, who were sprayed for up to eight minutes with tear gas after they allegedly began to act aggressively to Don Dale staff.
The guards can be heard on the video saying, “no let the fucker come through because when he comes through, he will be off balance. I’ll pulverise the little fucker. Oh shit, we’re recording hey [laughs].”
Prior to the incident, the detainees were held for up to 72 hours in solitary confinement with no air conditioning, no windows and no water. That's the maximum amount of time juveniles can be held in solitary confinement in the NT.
The incident came to public attention following an investigation by the former Northern Territory children’s commissioner, Dr Howard Bath, who found the actions of Don Dale staff to be excessive.
It's not the first time the Don Dale detention centre has been the subject of shocking allegations.
Following the report into the tear gassing incident, the NT Police launched a criminal investigation into allegations that guards had used the photo app Snapchat to film an Aboriginal detainee eating animal faeces in return for a soft drink and chocolate.
The footage was obtained by the ABC's Four Corners program as part of an investigation into juvenile detention centres, which airs tonight.