Guards who restrained and stripped boy in detention in Alice Springs backed by NT corrections boss

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.

CCTV footage, obtained exclusively by the ABC, shows the 13-year-old being wrestled to the ground and held down after refusing to change clothes.

The methods used by the guards have been described as "cruel, inhumane and degrading" by a human rights lawyer.

But the Territory's head of corrections, Commissioner Ken Middlebrook, said his staff acted appropriately.

The CCTV vision from 2010 was only released by a judge after legal proceedings against the guard involved concluded this month.

It shows the boy refusing to put on a safety gown and spitting at staff.

He was in custody for a minor offence and on the night in question had threatened self-harm.

Later a guard is seen grabbing the boy by the neck and throwing him onto a mattress.

The man pins the child down with his full weight while another guard strips the boy naked.

In February a magistrate found the guard's actions were lawful and he was acquitted of aggravated assault.

Prosecutors lodged an appeal against the acquittal, but it was dismissed by the NT Supreme Court earlier this month.

Children's Commissioner Howard Bath said he was appalled after seeing the vision.

"I can't say anything about the legality or otherwise of what I've seen, but I'm appalled from what I see from a practice perspective", he said.

"There is no physical intervention training that authorises that sort of manoeuvre.

"There should be no constricting or holding of the neck because it is extremely dangerous," Mr Bath said.

Dr Bath acknowledged the incident involved a child who had threatened self-harm, but said the guards' actions were not an appropriate way to address the situation.

"This aggressive and humiliating response is the way that is dealt with," he said.

"I just find that incredibly sad in this day and age, that this is the response we provide to a young person in need.

He said anyone subjected to the kind of treatment shown in the footage would be physically and emotionally harmed.

'We all know that most of the young people that are in juvenile justice have had backgrounds of extreme trauma, these sorts of approaches to dealing with kids in distress are just going to traumatise the kids again," he said.

"We just don't needs these sorts of responses.

"I recognise that it can be very very hard with these young people, sometimes you may need to physically intervene but if that is the case it needs to be done with sensitive and care, and that is not what I see in this particular video," he said.

'I will not tolerate young people spitting on my staff'

But the NT's Corrections Commissioner said his staff handled themselves appropriately under difficult circumstances.

"You've got to look at the context of the issue, this about restraining some who was threatening self harm and I support the actions of the officer.

"This young fellow... had a propensity to spit on staff and throw bodily fluids", he said.

"One of the things he did quite regularly was spit on staff, so the action taken was to prevent him doing that while they were putting him into the safety gown."

Commissioner Middlebrook said the officers needed to maintain order in youth detention.

"We have to mange these people when they don't behave," he said.

"No-one likes to us these sorts of methods, but if these young people don't behave then there are things we have to do.

"I will not tolerate young people spitting on my staff, I will not tolerate them throwing bodily fluid or weapons, and if the staff need to constrain those people, that is what they have to do."

CCTV incredibly distressing, says human rights lawyer

Ruth Barson, from the Human Rights Law Centre, examined the footage and said she was shocked by the guard's behaviour.

"I think anybody who watches this footage would find it incredibly distressing. It's undoubtedly cruel, it's inhumane and it's degrading", she said.

"It seriously speaks to the need for transparency and accountability about what is going on in the Northern Territory's youth justice facilities."

Ms Barson said she found it hard to imagine any circumstances where such actions would be appropriate.

"We are talking about three grown adult men taking a young boy by his neck throwing him onto a mattress and stripping him," she said.

She warned that handling children in this way would damage any chance of the rehabilitation for the child.

"I think it important to remember that in any youth justice system around Australia the primary goal is the rehabilitation of young people," she said.

"Being treated in such a degrading way will have long-term impacts on this young person."