Spit Hoods Are Still Being Used On Children In The Northern Territory
"This has to end - and the only way to secure this is to ban spit hoods by law."
Advocates are calling for spit hoods to be outlawed nationally after it was revealed the devices were being used on children in the Northern Territory.
The mesh face restraints were used on minors in watch houses 27 times since 2018, with 21 of the instances happening in the last two years, according to police data shared with the NT News.
Amnesty International has previously called the excessive use of spit hoods on Australian children a “cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment” that contravenes the UN Convention Against Torture. The final report from the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory in 2017 called for the ban of spit hoods after they were used on inmate Dylan Voller — who was 17-years-old at the time.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner responded to the findings and recommendations by promising to make the territory “safer, smarter, and more compassionate”, while apologising to those affected. Two years later, the NT Government argued that using spit hoods on minors was “reasonable” at the controversial Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Berrimah.
Spit hoods were legally banned in South Australia in November after a momentous campaign from the family of Wayne Fella Morrison — a 29-year-old Wiradjuri, Wirangu, and Kokatha man who died five years ago in an Adelaide Prison from “potential” partial asphyxiation.
The Human Rights Law Centre, NATSILS, and the Australian Law Human Rights group have all come out to back the national movement to legislate the ban of spit hoods, while Executive Officer at Change The Record Sophie Trevitt described putting a hood over a child’s face as “barbaric”.
“There is no appropriate or safe way to use a spit hood,” said #BanSpitHoods Collective spokesperson and Morrison’s sibling Latoya Rule in a statement on Monday. “Spit hoods pose an unacceptable risk to human life and dignity.
“This has to end — and the only way to secure this is to ban spit hoods by law. We cannot risk another life.”
A petition to ban spit hoods nationally can be signed here.