The abuse of children in Don Dale and other Aussie prisons is a national shame
Roxanne Moore
“Systemic and shocking failures”; “regular, repeated and distressing mistreatment”; “ignored at the highest levels”: these are the findings of the royal commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory, which on Friday released their report describing a brutal and barbaric injustice system for kids.
As awful as the findings are, the truly horrific thing is that they are all too familiar. In the past year these same kinds of abuses of children have been reported in every child prison in this country.
That Abu Ghraib-style hooding in Don Dale that horrified the world? The WA independent inspector found 14 instances of spit-hoods used in Banksia Hill from 2014 to 2016, which were only banned after the ABC’s Four Corners report.
“Hogtying” is the sickening practice where Don Dale guards tied or cuffed children’s hands and ankles behind their back, joined together. In Townsville, this is exactly what Cleveland children’s prison staff did to kids at risk of self-harm, hogtying and then sedating them.
Locking up children in solitary confinement breaches international law, but Don Dale and other Australian children’s prisons do it routinely. This year the Victorian children’s commissioner revealed 50 instances of solitary confinement of kids for more than 36 hours at a time. In some of these cases, children had to urinate or defecate on the cell floor. In NSW, documents leaked to Fairfax showed four kids were held in isolation for 23 hours a day for 10 days straight at Cobham child prison.
There are clear parallels on racial abuse, with evidence from Aboriginal kids in both Don Dale and in ACT’s Bimberi prison that guards called them “black c----”.
Don Dale Youth Detention Centre
Girls, in particular, suffered at Don Dale, with unjustified solitary confinement to separate them from boys; personal hygiene restrictions; sexual abuse and inappropriate touching by guards. Similarly, in WA a girl was found drenched in her own urine after 72 hours in solitary confinement. In Queensland, girls have been forced to cough and squat in search procedures, which can be re-traumatising for the many girls in prison who are survivors of sexual violence.
Then there’s the physical violence. Children in Don Dale, including girls, were put in chokeholds or head locks, thrown to the ground, had guards’ body weight pushed down onto their chests. In Canberra, a Bimberi ex-staff member told the Canberra Times: “I had watched and been involved in uses of force where the young person screamed for their mum or dad.”
In Queensland, a child at risk of self-harm was pinned to the ground, put in handcuffs and legcuffs, and had his clothes cut off with a knife. Dogs were also used to frighten children. Last year in WA, special forces units were sent to Banksia Hill, including pointing firearms at children, and using chemical agents.
Our governments allowed these atrocities – breaches of the UN Convention Against Torture – to happen to our kids behind bars.
Perhaps this is not surprising, as these abuses are mostly happening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids, who are over half of all children in prison across Australia. Children as young as 10 years old. I wonder how quickly change would have happened if these abuses were mostly happening to white kids – not that it should be happening to any child at all.
I’m furious that some of these kids who were abused in Don Dale and other prisons have been charged with assault, yet the guards who abused them and breached their rights walk away without consequence. Some of these guards still work at Don Dale, Cleveland, Banksia Hill, Bimberi. Where is the justice for these kids?
On Saturday, I sat down with mob in Alice Springs; grandmothers who have been fighting for this change for most of their lives. I heard the same concerns and calls for change as I have in many other yarns with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country.
Bring our kids back to us. We can heal our kids on country. We can give our kids the support they need, with their families, in their communities. Our kids need to be strong in culture and have opportunities to thrive, not be locked up and bashed. The police need to stop targeting our kids.
We say these words again and again. No one listens.
I am in awe of young people like Dylan Voller who have been through the worst that this injustice system has to offer, and yet become strong young advocates for change. We went to Canberra together, where I heard Dylan tell politicians how the Bushmob program is the reason he is still out of prison. He wants programs like that made available to more kids.
I’ve listened to so many incredible First Nations people who are creating this change in their communities. Wirrpanda Foundation in WA; Tribal Warrior and Maragnuka in NSW; Mona Aboriginal Corporation’s cultural horsemanship program in Mount Isa; Red Dust Healing and Yinda Program in Townsville; and so many more across the country. They often struggle for funding, but do it out of the love in their hearts.
We owe it to all of the children, families and communities who have re-lived these horrors and trauma for the royal commission to overhaul this youth injustice system. There is a better way: one with Indigenous community-led solutions at the centre.
Today, almost 100 organisations have joined forces to call on prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to work with state and territory governments, in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, to end this national shame.
The PM needs to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations’ calls for a national plan of action. This is the only way to make sure that change happens in every state and territory, so that our children can, at last, be free to be kids.
Roxanne Moore is a Noongar woman, human rights lawyer and Indigenous rights campaigner for Amnesty International
Abuse fears scuttle high school in Australia
SAM BIDEY, Townsville Bulletin
A TOWNSVILLE school under the microscope at a royal commission investigation into child sexual abuse will shut down its secondary and boarding education.
Shalom Christian College, currently a Prep to Year 12 school, will only accept primary students next year, cutting its enrolment by more than half and ceasing its role as an indigenous boarding school for the “welfare” of children.
The Uniting Church-owned and operated Condon school was heavily scrutinised as part of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
In November 2016, a former principal of Shalom, Christopher Shirley, told the royal commission that the school dealt with about 20 sexual assaults a year.
The mother of a girl who was allegedly gang raped at the age of 14 in 2006 told the royal commission the school had tried to cover up the attack.
Last year, Shalom Christian College principal Christopher England said he could not provide a safe environment for students in the boarding houses with the resource levels available.
Reverend David Baker, moderator of the Uniting Church in Queensland, said the primary school was only guaranteed to run in 2018, with the long-term future of the school uncertain. "This decision has been based solely on the welfare and best interests of our students,” Rev Baker said.
“We have a duty to ensure we are providing the best possible educational experience for them and we believe this is the format in which we can fulfil that duty. We emphasise that we have a responsibility to ensure the school is a safe, supportive and productive learning environment.
“The Uniting Church is committed to operating the primary school in its current form until the end of 2018.”
There were about 140 secondary students and 110 primary students enrolled at the school this year, including 46 boarders.
The Education Department will intervene to ensure the children impacted by the closure can continue their education at other schools. Education Minister Kate Jones said this was a “distressing” time for families and staff.
“That’s why we’ll do everything possible to support students and staff displaced,” she said. “We believe we’ll be able to accommodate all students at local state schools and we’ll work with families to offer this solution. We will also work with the school and scholarship providers to support the transfer of boarders.”
Ms Jones said where possible, the department would also try to accommodate staff looking for work. Rev Baker said the Uniting Church would work with the Education Department.
“This will no doubt be distressing news for many people and we apologise to those who will be affected by the changes,” he said.
“However, we must do what we feel is best for the students, and that means focusing our efforts on providing a high-quality primary school offering in 2018, and assisting secondary students to transition to study elsewhere.”
The school opened in 1992 for preschool and Year 1 students and by 1994 had expanded to cater for classes up to Year 8.
Fellow police made my life torture for trying to stop Rochdale sex ring, claims detective
THE detective who exposed the Rochdale child abuse scandal has claimed she was bullied by police chiefs for speaking out on grooming gangs
By JAMES FIELDING
Maggie Oliver said her professional life was made “torture” after she told senior officers that police were not doing enough to protect girls from a predominantly Asian paedophile ring.
The former detective constable resigned from Greater Manchester Police in late 2012 over failures that allowed the Rochdale perpetrators to escape justice for many years.
However before she quit she alleges she was bullied for a year and a half while working on Operation Span, the investigation into Rochdale.
Ms Oliver has not spoken publicly about her bullying so as not to detract from the way in which the young victims were let down by the police.
However, she has now decided to speak out to support another detective John Wedger who the Sunday Express revealed last week is suing the Metropolitan Police for a psychiatric injury he suffered as a result of bullying.
She said: “I’ve never spoken publicly about my personal treatment because I never wanted to deflect from the fact the police had failed the child victims of Rochdale. But in trying to expose criminal neglect by senior officers that for me was on a par with Hillsborough, I was threatened and bullied.”
Ms Oliver, was tasked with gaining the trust of vulnerable but hostile victims. However, when they began to identify Asian grooming gangs, she said the police cooled their interest in the investigation.
She said: “GMP had a specialist interview suite for vulnerable victims which was purpose built to be non-confrontational, it’s like a living room, laid back because you want your witnesses to feel at ease.
“Yet I remember one senior officer screaming down the phone at me telling me that I had to take vulnerable victims to a suspect interview suite where some of them had been taken previously when they were accused of something they hadn’t actually done.”
Ms Oliver claimed the harassment stepped up when she was off work with stress.
She said: “Two senior colleagues turned up at my house one day and demanded that I surrender the police phone I’d had for 15 years.
“The reason they gave was that they didn’t want the victims to call me and put me under more stress.
“It was complete nonsense, just another attempt to isolate me further and shut me up.”
UK man tried to persuade undercover cop
to sexually abuse baby
The baby didn't exist and the 'father' was a police officer
posing as a parent
By Paul Beard
A depraved Nuneaton man tried to persuade a father to sexually abuse his four-month-old daughter while he watched over the internet.
But fortunately the baby girl did not exist – and her ‘father’ was actually an undercover police officer who had logged into an online chat room with Nathan Potter.
And at Warwick Crown Court , Potter pleaded guilty to attempting to encourage or incite the sexual abuse of a child under the age of 13.
Potter, 31, of St Austell Close, Nuneaton , who also admitted three charges of possessing indecent images of children, was jailed for 16 months.
He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for an indefinite period, but for a minimum of ten years, and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order until further notice.
What did the prosecution say?
Prosecutor Paul Dhami said that in August last year an undercover police officer came across an internet chat room and became concerned about the nature of Potter’s comments on it.
He joined in the conversation and said he was the father of a four-month old girl. During subsequent chats, Potter tried to persuade him to remove the baby’s nappy and sexually abuse her.
As a result, Potter was traced and arrested, and on his computer officers found more than 270 indecent images of children across all three categories of seriousness.
There were 226 in category A, the most serious, 104 in category B, and 44 in category C.
What did the defence say?
Of Potter’s attempt to encourage the abuse of a baby, his solicitor Colin Charvill conceded: “It is depraved, thoroughly.” He pointed out that of the indecent images, all but 12 were in the ‘inaccessible space’ on Potter’s computer.
“He says it came as some relief when he was arrested and he was forced to address his behaviour. “He is remorseful, and he is adamant that this type of behaviour is not going to be repeated.”
Mr Charvill said that at the time Potter’s relationship with his family had broken down. “He felt he had nothing going for him, but now he has turned the corner and feels he has made significant progress. He is reconciled with his family and has found himself employment.”
Asking the judge to pass a suspended sentence, he said Potter had been receiving counselling and attending courses to address his behaviour.
What did the judge say?
But Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told Potter: “I find myself absolutely unable to suspend the sentence. You were a man involved in an internet conversation, fully intending that a four-month-old child would be touched.
“You are a man of 31 years of age, of good character, but between 2011 and 2016 you were a regular accessor of category A, B and C images of children, and you had a very large number of such images. “There were a number of images which had been deleted, but they were depraved images that perpetrate the abuse of the children involved.
“Much more disturbingly, the analysis of your computer revealed the chat logs in which you engaged with a person you thought was a father who was abusing a four-month-old baby – and you did not just engage once, but on a number of occasions.
“You sought to encourage that person, who was an undercover police officer, to abuse that child in appalling ways. “There was no harm because there was no-one to be harmed, happily.
“But that offending is gravely aggravated by your possession of those indecent images in which the children were very young and there was discernible pain and distress.”
Vatican opens fresh probe into 'sex abuse' at school
AFP
The Vatican has opened a new investigation into possible sexual abuse committed before 2013 at a private school in Rome for children destined for the priesthood, the Holy See announced on Saturday.
The probe will be centred on "a former student of the pre-seminary Saint Pius X", who later became a priest, according to a statement.
"Following several reports, anonymous or not, investigations were conducted from 2013 on several occasions, both by the superiors of the pre-seminary and the Bishop of Como (north)", the diocese where the teachers are attached, the statement said.
The allegations concern pupils, "some of whom were no longer at the institution at the time of the investigations", adds the Holy See.
The opening of a new investigation follows the "recent appearance of new elements".
In a book published a few days ago, "The Original Sin", Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi discusses the allegations.
The book alleges that in a Vatican palace, a seminarist sexually abused at least one high school student aged 17 or 18 in 2011-2012.
A witness, Kamil Tadeusz Jarzembowksi from Poland, was living in an institution in the Vatican City, where children and adolescents from around the world plan to become priests.
According to him, a former pupil who was allowed to stay in the palace came very often at night - up to 140 times - to have sex with his roommate.
The boarders attend a private school in the centre of Rome and participate as choir boys at Masses celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica.
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