Informit article: Powerless and voiceless

The recent spate of incidents at Northern Territory (NT) youth justice detention centres shows that two years after the White/Gooda Royal Commission was established little has changed. This is evident in the continuing high number of Aboriginal youth in detention – still six to seven times higher than in any other state. One hundred per cent of youth detainees are Aboriginal, with 80 per cent of them held on remand. And then there are the inhumane conditions in which Aboriginal children continue to be jailed. I use the term ‘jailed’ because, remark ably, children are still being held in appalling conditions – within the old Berrimah men’s jail, now named Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, or Don Dale. The powerlessness and voicelessness of Aboriginal children and families sucked into the NT youth justice system continues.