DJ* was technically a child, in his eighth month inside an adult prison, when he was subjected to what he likens to “psychological torture”.
In February – in an incident criticised by Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) – prison staff placed a spit hood over the head of the Aboriginal teenager, despite him never spitting at guards.
“They put it on me anyway,” the teen said, via a statement provided by his lawyer.
“It was ridiculing. It was dehumanising. It felt like psychological torture.”
DJ has since turned 18 – a milestone reached while in solitary confinement at the prison, where he remains in detention.
The prison’s use of the spit hood was reported by the state’s children’s commissioner in its annual report, published last week.
A spit hood is a mesh bag placed over a detainee’s head to stop them spitting saliva or blood, or biting, and is designed to prevent injury or infection for guards.
On the day it happened, DJ contacted CCYP to report the incident, sparking an inquiry by the commission that found that he was also confined to his cell for up to 23 hours a day over five months.
Last week, Victoria’s principal commissioner for children and young people, Liana Buchanan, told Guardian Australia she was “shocked” by this incident.
“We like to think in Victoria that we avoid the very worst abuses of children in custody, that sometimes unfortunately we see in other parts of the country. This case unfortunately showed me that is not true,” she said.
A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesperson said that earlier this year Corrections Victoria prohibited the use of spit hoods on young people under the age of 18 in adult prisons.
The CCYP inquiry also found that after the incident water access to DJ’s cell was turned off for 22 hours.
He was unable to wash his hands, use the toilet facilities or brush his teeth. This was despite him requesting staff to return his access to water.
DJ was left to wonder when water access would return.
“It’s pretty obvious that they were just abusing me,” he said.
“It’s a breach of my human rights. They treat human rights like they’re some bendable rule.”
He also criticised his placement in solitary confinement.
“I am just left like an animal in a cage. I shouldn’t be left alone like that. No one should ever have to go through that,” DJ said.
He said solitary confinement “hasn’t done anything for my rehabilitation”.
The day before the spit hood was used, the teen was involved in a “series of incidents” and staff moved him to another cell using authorised force, the CCYP said. It also said staff had used the spit hood without consideration of the Corrections Victoria regulations.
The justice department spokesperson said: “The safety and wellbeing of staff and people in custody is the highest priority.”
“Frontline workers are supported with training on tactical options and de-escalation techniques to manage difficult situations. Corrections Victoria regularly reviews all its policies and protective measures to ensure they represent best practice.”
Sarah Schwartz, the principal lawyer for the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service’s Wirraway practice, said DJ’s treatment amounted to “torture, as well as cruel and inhumane treatment”.
“Solitary confinement – locking young people in a concrete cell for over 22 hours a day without access to education, fresh air and other people – has a profoundly damaging impact on their development, physical and mental health and rehabilitation,” she said.
“DJ should never have been placed in an adult prison as a child.”
The case also reiterated calls by the CCYP for Victoria to ban the detention of children in adult prisons.
Youth justice custodial settings do not have, or use, spit hoods. The commission said it had repeatedly advised the Victorian government that spit hoods should not be used on children.
A 2017 royal commission – sparked by footage broadcasted by the ABC showing harrowing treatment of juvenile detainees at Northern Territory’s Don Dale youth detention centre, including the hooding of a 17-year-old – recommended spit hoods be banned.
Spit hoods have been operationally prohibited in the territory’s youth jails since 2017 but the government has rejected enshrining a ban in legislation. Territory police data, reported by NT News last year, revealed spit hoods had been used on children 27 times in police watch houses since 2018.
In 2021, South Australia became the first Australian jurisdiction to implement a legislative ban on the use of spit hoods. The Australian federal police announced an operational ban on spit hoods in April.
*Name has been changed
