The Northern Territory CLP government has said it wants to reintroduce spit hoods to youth detention centres, eight years after they were banned. The hoods have been associated with deaths in custody, and their banning was recommended by a 2017 royal commission. The use of the hoods, which can be used on children as young as 10, also go against Australia’s human rights obligations.

You can read more on advocate and expert warnings, here

Child and forensic psychiatrist, associate professor John Kasinathan told the ABC the hoods were like torture for those who have been forced to wear them:

Anyone that’s spoken to a young person that’s had one of these spit hoods on – they will tell you – and I have spoken to young people that have had this experience – and it is horrible. They can’t see anything. It gets into their mouth, into their nose. They find it difficult to breathe – some of them actually – it can trigger an asthma attack – and it’s incredibly harmful.

…it’s really dangerous. That’s why it’s been banned and, as per the United Nations’ guidance on these instruments, a person would need to be restrained quite significantly for a hood to be put on. If someone came up to you or me and wanted to put a hood on, you know, your head or my head, I would protest, and I’m sure you would too.

And our audience needs to really have some empathy for the young people that are in this situation.

The young people that were subjected to spit hoods in the Northern Territory previously were often restrained in restraint chairs, which are, again, inhumane and considered a form of torture. If the government was really serious about protecting youth justice staff and workers from people spitting at them, the most sensible way to manage that is by making sure your staff are wearing protective gear, which can include gloves, gowns, and a face mask with a visor that protects from spitting. That is a far more effective way of dealing with young people potentially spitting.