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31 OCTOBER 2025 ausdoc. com. au
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Doctors fight youth detention spit hoods
Rachel Carter EARLIER this year, paediatrician Dr Catherine Boyd and 44 of her colleagues wrote to the NT Government warning against its plans to reinstate spit hoods in youth detention.
The Chief Minister told them to stick to their day job.
Lia Finocchiaro suggested paediatricians were wasting their time by writing to her:“ They can do their job, which is to look after sick children. I have to regularly look mothers in the eye who, like me, cannot get in to see one.”
Many of the letter’ s signatories were working in the NT back in 2016, when Four Corners aired an investigation into spit hoods and other uses of force in the NT’ s youth detention centres.
The images, including that of 14-yearold Dylan Voller wearing a spit hood and strapped to a restraint chair, were likened to scenes from Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
It sparked public outcry, with a subsequent Royal Commission saying the hoods should be banned.
Eight years later, the NT Government has passed amendments to the Youth Justice Act that will reintroduce spit hoods and remove the principle of detention as a last resort.
Dr Boyd said she and her colleagues would continue to contact ministers, stressing that the letter— which said the hoods caused psychological harm amounting to child abuse— was written based on their clinical experiences.
“ The children affected by these measures are children we have seen in the past or children we will see in the future. We have firsthand knowledge of the impacts of trauma,” she told Australian Doctor.
“ It is our responsibility to speak up about the harm we know will result from this.”
‘ Modern and humane‘
The government describes spit hoods as“ a modern and humane” form of restraint.
“ When young people come into custody that are spitting, biting their tongue and spitting blood at correctional officers, we want to ensure that our frontline staff are protected,” Aboriginal Affairs Minister Steve Edgington said in August.
Ms Finocchiaro said last year, when the idea of reintroducing them was first raised, that the hoods had changed a lot in their design and had become“ effectively a loose mesh netting”.
‘ No justification’
Dr Boyd said she sympathised with detention staff, given the challenges they can face, but there could be no justification.
“ You are essentially putting a hooded object over a child,” she said.
“ The action of doing this amounts to inflicting harm, in our opinion.
“ If a child presented to hospital from anywhere, regardless of whether that was from corrections or home, and we had knowledge that a carer or an adult had put a hood on them, that would trigger an immediate mandatory notification because of the trauma inflicted.”
Protocols
The NT Government has drawn up protocols for their use.
When the hoods are employed, it must be reported by staff in a register of prescribed restraints.
There is also an obligation to make written observations of a detainee wearing an anti-spit guard every 10 minutes.
‘ A step backward’
But Dr Boyd points to the documented deaths of Australian adults in custody that occurred in the context of spit hood use, and the multiple organisations that had criticised their use.
‘ The action of doing this amounts to inflicting harm.’
Dr Catherine Boyd.
This included the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, which had called the hoods a form of torture and condemned the government’ s move as a“ catastrophic step backward”.
Nowhere in paediatricians’ training would there be support for their use, Dr Boyd said.
“ Each paediatrician who signed the letter would have between 10 and 50 years of training and expertise. That is a significant amount of experience.
“ None of the training we have suggests this is how you manage a child who has some problems with their behaviour or that it would impact a child’ s behaviour in a positive way.
“ All of our training would suggest that this would negatively impact a child.”
In their letter, the paediatricians warned that the hoods posed a“ real and
unacceptable risk” of asphyxiation or other harms that could result in death or permanent disability.
Dr Boyd said the measures also risked heightening distress for healthcare staff— first responders and ED workers, as well as the police and social workers.
“ I can only imagine for the police who repeatedly see traumatised children, that these measures will only contribute to their moral distress and feelings of powerlessness.
PBS Information: Authority required( STREAMLINED). Severe Asthma. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease( 100 / 6 / 10 mcg presentation only). Criteria Apply. Refer to PBS for full information.
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Abbreviations: COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; ICS: inhaled corticosteroid; LABA: long-acting beta 2 agonist; LAMA: long-acting muscarinic antagonist; PBS: Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme; pMDI: pressurised metered dose inhaler. References: 1. Trimbow Approved Product Information. 2. Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme( PBS). www. pbs. gov. au. Chiesi Australia Pty Ltd, Hawthorn East, VIC. 3123, Australia. Tel: + 61 3 9077 4486; Fax: + 61 3 8672 0792; Email: medinfo. au @ chiesi. com. Copyright © Chiesi 2025. All rights reserved. Date of preparation: September 2025. AU-TRI-2500083. CHIE00286A.
What the NT Government says about how spit hoods will be used
• Who can apply an anti-spit guard?
— Only youth justice officers who have completed the approved training course in physical intervention techniques for youth, as well as a prescribed restraints course, can apply an anti-spit guard.
• When will an anti-spit guard not be used?
— An anti-spit guard will not be used on a detainee if they are vomiting, displaying signs of breathing difficulties or have an injury to the mouth or nose area.
• Reporting and governance
— There are stringent reporting requirements for anti-spit guards. They must be reported in a register of prescribed restraints on our approved case management system, CARE.
• Empowering frontline officers and strengthening security— An anti-spit guard is a modern and humane form of restraint that is used under strict guidelines and procedures.— Its introduction reflects modern operational realities— spitting happens in our youth detention centres and has real physical and psychological effects on staff.
Source: NT Government— Department of Corrections
NT GOVERNMENT