Youth was shackled in restraint chair multiple times, says detention centre guard

The teenage boy who was strapped to a chair and shacked in a juvenile detention centre suffered the horrific mistreatment multiple times, according to a startling admission from a former Northern Territory guard.

A report by the ABC Four Corners program on Monday revealed graphic footage of children being mistreated at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin, in August 2014.

Videos were released of predominately Aboriginal youths being tear-gassed, stripped naked, and assaulted by guards, with then 14-year-old Dylan Voller hooded and tied to a chair and left there for two hours.

Following the release of the confronting pictures, former youth justice officer Ben Kelleher admitted to the ABC on Wednesday: “I know of three times he was in the restraint chair.”

The allegation contradicts admissions from the Northern Territory Corrections Department that the restraint chair was used “only at adult correctional centres” and was reportedly used just once on Dylan.

“I turned up for one shift and Dylan was in the chair and the other two times they were on incident reports I read once I got to work,” he said.

Dylan told his lawyers he was placed in the chair multiple times while in youth detention - the first time was when he was just 11 years old.

Mr Kelleher worked in Darwin and Alice Springs youth detention centres between 2011 and 2014.

“I truly believe no matter how misbehaved a young man or lady is, they shouldn’t have their right to movement taken away like that," he said.

“It’s very hard for the individual and a worker to draw a line between your safety and the safety of the kids.”

A royal commission into the detention of young people will be limited to the Northern Territory, despite calls for the inquiry to be widened, following the broadcast of footage of the Darwin abuse.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has announced a royal commission to examine the NT's youth justice system, insists royal commissions are most effective when their terms of reference are clear and focused.

"Royal commissions with sweeping terms of reference that go on for years and years often lose their way," he told Cairns 4CA radio on Wednesday.

The release of the confronting images have already lead to the sacking of the Northern Territory Corrections Minister John Elferink.

• NT detention centre likened to Guantanamo Bay after footage shows boys gassed, stripped and shackled

• 'I'll pulverise the little f****r': Prison officers laugh as they gas six teenagers

Following the video surfacing, the ABC has since reported further claims that similar mistreatment has been occurring and "covered up" nationally for years.

Girls held in detention centres have allegedly had their clothes cut off and were left naked in cells, according to non-government organisation Sisters Inside, which advocates for the rights of women and girls in the criminal and justice system, .

The organisation's chief executive Debbie Kilroy, said she was "not surprised" by the confronting video.

"As a young person who was in and out of youth detention in my teenage years, that violence occurred there and it continues today in a number of, if not all, youth prisons across this country," Ms Kilroy told the ABC.

"Girls have informed me that they have been held down, had their clothes cut off and left naked in cells, that they have been over-medicated, that they have been assaulted by staff.

"I'm talking about girls in Queensland and girls in other jurisdictions across Australia."

She believes the behaviour has been going on for decades, but because there is no CCTV evidence the group's claims are have been "dismissed".

"We're either claimed to be over-exaggerating or actually just blatant liars," she said.

Despite his stance on limiting the inquiry to Don Dale, the Prime Minister has been pressured to reconsider nationwide investigation into youth detention centres by Siyavash Doostkhah, director of Queensland peak body for youth issues, the Youth Affairs Network.

"In the past 20 years I've heard thousands of cases of young people being abused," Mr Doostkhah said.

"We've written to the Prime Minister and the concern is we're not talking about a one-off incident, this is a systemic problem that's been going on for far too long.

"This is an opportunity to look at this issue across Australia and look at it in a way that allows people to come forward under a royal commission."

Mr Turnbull is expected to discuss the terms of reference into the NT inquiry with colleagues at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

He hopes a directions hearing will be held in August ahead of hearings in September, October and November, with a report likely in early 2017.

He agreed with acting Labor leader Tanya Plibersek, who said all politicians should share responsibility for the treatment of young people in detention.

"There is no doubt that some of the mistreatment has occurred in the territory under Labor governments," Mr Turnbull said.

One of the victims who appeared in the horrifying video, Dylan Voller, aged 16, who remains in custody in an adult jail in Darwin, wrote an open letter to "the whole Australian Community" thanking them for the widespread support he has received since the Four Corners report aired.

Dylan's letter was released by his lawyers O’Briens Solicitors in Sydney on Tuesday, in which the teenager also expresses remorse for the crimes that landed him in juvenile detention.