{"id":323093,"date":"2025-12-02T16:31:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/323093\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T16:31:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:31:20","slug":"review-into-incident-at-tasmanias-ashley-youth-detention-centre-of-makeshift-spit-hood-on-detainees-head-tabled-in-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/323093\/","title":{"rendered":"Review into incident at Tasmania’s Ashley Youth Detention Centre of makeshift spit hood on detainee’s head tabled in parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

An incarcerated young person forced into a makeshift spit hood has told investigators he found it “hard to breathe”.<\/p>\n

A spit hood \u2014 also known as a spit guard, spit sock, or safety hood \u2014 is a loose piece of fabric police and correction officers use to cover an inmate’s head, to stop them spitting or biting.<\/p>\n

They have been associated with multiple deaths in custody<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An Office of the Custodial Inspector review probing into an incident at Tasmania’s Ashley Youth Detention Centre (AYDC) in November 2024 was tabled in Tasmania’s parliament on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Inmates from AYDC are accompanied by escorts whenever outside the facility. (Supplied: The Office of the Custodial Inspector)<\/p>\n

The young person was being escorted between the Launceston General Hospital and the detention centre by guards from contractor Essential Security.<\/p>\n

The report said the young person had displayed “challenging behaviours” on the journey, including kicking, punching, and verbal abuse.<\/p>\n

Distracted by the spitting, the driver instructed another worker to pull the young person’s “t-shirt up over his face so he could not spit on anyone again”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The inside of a car used to transport inmates at AYDC. (Supplied: The Office of the Custodial Inspector)<\/p>\n

The young person told investigators it made it “hard to breathe”.<\/p>\n

The report described CCTV footage of the incident:<\/p>\n

“It showed the young person being removed from the vehicle with his hands handcuffed behind his back and his t-shirt pulled up over his face and head.<\/p>\n

“Two AYDC staff physically moved the young person into a holding cell while he was handcuffed, and the t-shirt was over his head. Essential Security staff followed behind.<\/p>\n

“The young person was physically resisting being moved and managed to headbutt one of the AYDC workers.<\/p>\n

“At one point, the t-shirt slipped slightly from the young person’s head and the worker pulled it back up.<\/p>\n

“The young person was able to remove the t-shirt once secured in a cell, and the AYDC worker soon removed the handcuffs.”<\/p>\n

\"Five<\/p>\n

CCTV from outside of the AYDC cell.\u00a0 (Supplied: The Office of the Custodial Inspector)<\/p>\n

Recommendations<\/p>\n

The report said the incident raised “serious concerns” over a lack of safeguards for young detainees while in the care of Essential Security staff, finding “child-safe principles that should apply in these circumstances were absent”.<\/p>\n

The Department for Education, Children and Young People said spit hoods were not explicitly prohibited by at Ashley at the time, but now were.<\/p>\n

They are also banned in the Tasmania Prison Service.<\/p>\n

But the review recommended a legislative ban on spit hoods and improvised spit hoods “in all circumstances”.<\/p>\n

It also recommended DECYP improve governance of contractors transporting inmates, including vetting of staff, and regular executive oversight and auditing.<\/p>\n

What are spit hoods and why are they controversial?<\/a><\/p>\n

The NT government is reinstating the use of spit hoods in youth detention, eight years after the practice was banned. Why are spit hoods controversial and what are the laws across Australia?\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the report acknowledged being spat on was “degrading”, it found limited evidence of disease transmission.<\/p>\n

It recommended the department improve protections for staff as risk of exposure to bodily fluids, inform them of appropriate ways of responding to spitting, and focus on “relational security”.<\/p>\n

“Young people deserve to have their human rights upheld, the fact that they’re detained doesn’t change that,” Custodial Inspector Grant Davies said.Infamous NT case<\/p>\n

In 2016, spit hoods sparked global public outcry after CCTV footage of a hooded Northern Territory teenager aired on Four Corners.<\/p>\n

In it, a 17-year-old was tied to a chair at his ankles, wrists, shoulders and neck, and left masked for almost two hours at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.<\/p>\n

His treatment prompted then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to call a royal commission into juvenile justice in the territory, which recommended spit hoods be banned.<\/p>\n

Former national children’s commissioner and justice reform initiative spokesperson Anne Hollands said many young people had already suffered trauma and maltreatment.<\/p>\n

“When they are incarcerated, the last thing we should be doing is inflicting further trauma on them,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve seen this around the world really \u2026 that the use of spit hoods has being banned because they’ve been associated with very harmful physical effects including suffocation, even death, but also very serious psychological trauma.”\"Anne<\/p>\n

Ms Hollonds says many young people in custody have already suffered trauma. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Tasmania’s Interim Commissioner for Children and Young People, Isabelle Crompton, said spit hoods were “entirely incompatible with human rights”.<\/p>\n

“Let us be under no illusions \u2014 an improvised spit hood is still a spit hood,” she said.<\/p>\n

“For the avoidance of doubt, there are no circumstances that make the use of any spit hood on a child acceptable.”<\/p>\n

Both Ms Crompton and the Tasmanian Greens have called on the government to implement the recommendations in full.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Ms Crompton believes there is no acceptable instance to use a spit hood on a child. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

Staff and contractors had access to PPE<\/p>\n

Tasmanian Minister for Children and Youth, Jo Palmer, said the government “supports the intent of the Custodial Inspector’s review and recommendations” and would continue improving the transport process, training, policy and governance.<\/p>\n

“The department is actively progressing work to ensure practices remain aligned with contemporary therapeutic models at all times,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Palmer said AYDC transport contract specifications were under consideration.<\/p>\n

She said staff and contractors had access to personal protective equipment if spitting was a risk.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ms Palmer is the Tasmanian Minister for Children and Youth. (ABC News: Jordan Young)<\/p>\n

Essential Security<\/p>\n

In a letter, the young person involved said familiar Ashley staff should accompany detainees being transported.<\/p>\n

“Essential Security are often transporting us during really stressful times, like going to court, going to hospital and times when you don’t know what’s happening,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Some Essential workers are alright, but others don’t treat you like you’re even a human being,” the youth said in the tabled report.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Essential Security has provided a letter from its lawyer. (Facebook: Essential Security Tas)<\/p>\n

Essential Security did not participate in the investigation, instead providing a letter from its lawyer rejecting many of the assertions.<\/p>\n

“Essential Security are concerned that the report contains untested, false and defamatory representations that may impact on its reputation and those of its employees,” the lawyer said.<\/p>\n

“They are extremely concerned that the anonymity and lack of particulars concerning many of the allegations makes them impossible to counter and their inclusion in the report is unfair.”<\/p>\n

The ABC has contacted Essential Security for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An incarcerated young person forced into a makeshift spit hood has told investigators he found it “hard to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[181824,64,63,181823,86057,181825,44,14832,8539,2801,59565],"class_list":["post-323093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-ashley-youth-detention-centre","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-custodial-inspector","tag-don-dale","tag-exton","tag-news","tag-prisons","tag-tas","tag-tasmania","tag-watchhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}