Horrific video has emerged of an Australian teenager strapped into a mechanical restraint chair, wearing a 'spit hood', as part of his punishment in a youth detention centre. Source: ABC News
The international attention young Northern Territory prisoner Dylan Voller received has made him a target for reprisals and he fears for his safety in jail, one of his lawyers says.
Voller shot into the spotlight on Monday night when he was depicted in CCTV footage on the ABC's Four Cornersprogram being left hooded and tied to a chair for two hours, as well as being assaulted by guards, forcibly stripped naked, and tear-gassed while incarcerated at Darwin's Don Dale juvenile detention centre.
Now 18, Voller is serving a sentence in the adult prison.
His lawyers are hoping to bring forward his parole hearing date, set down for August, to as early as this week.
"The grounds we're bringing this application on is that Dylan fears for his safety in that correctional centre," said Alex Tighe, a member of Voller's legal team.
"If you're a person in prison you can't protect yourself from the guards." Voller now fears reprisals from the guards following the Four Corners story, which has put him in danger, he said.
"His name is now national and international, he now has a huge target on his head just because it's such a big issue," Mr Tighe said.
The NT government's tough-talking approach to youth crime means "the abuse of Dylan Voller has been inevitable", he said.
"If the NT government shows absolutely no respect for kids in the way they talk about crime, if they demonise these kids politically, it sets a shocking example for the guards."
