‘Only fit for a bulldozer’: nurse alleges children in distress and clinic ‘crumbling’ at Don Dale

A nurse who worked at the Don Dale youth detention centre alleges it is an unsafe environment for staff and that children detained there are so distressed they ask for anti-psychotic medication.

The nurse, whodoes not want to be named, says Don Dale is "only fit for a bulldozer" and feels that not enough has changed since a royal commission into the notorious Northern Territory facility.

She tells Guardian Australia that nurses have been working in a clinic with rot in the walls and water damage from a leak.

"The cornice of the roof had rotted and had been removed and there was water running down the wall," she said.

"It's not safe for us working there and it's not safe for the kids. That's not an ideal environment - a clinic should be clean and sterile."

The nurse said clinicians are working on the site under difficult circumstances with the clinic "crumbing" around them.

According to recent figures from the NT government, Don Dale holds 38 children, aged 10-17, and the majority of them are Indigenous. Both sentenced and unsentenced children are detained at the centre, some from communities hundreds of kilometres away.

In 2016, revelations of the mistreatment of children at Don Dale, including the use of teargas and spit hoods, triggered a royal commission. The inquiry handed down 227 recommendations in 2018, chief among them that the centre should be immediately shut down.

The nurse who spoke with Guardian Australia believes not enough has changed since then and that the centre remains unfit for purpose.

But staff at Don Dale had little choice to carry on because they were severely under-resourced, she claimed.

"That is through no fault of the staff that work there. The majority of the people who work there are trying their absolute best under incredibly challenging circumstances."

Some of the most traumatised and vulnerable children are incarcerated with little more than a mattress on a concrete block, she said.

"More than five years after a [Four Corners] story that shocked the nation we still haven't fixed this," she said.

She said it was often distressing to see primary school-aged children "alone and isolated".

"They're incredibly frightened and scared. They're isolated in a cell. They're away from their family and they're fretting, they're distressed and you're helpless."

She said on one occasion a teenage boy who suffered a fractured leg and serious dog bite wounds during his arrest "hobbled" out of his cell.

"I was like, 'Mate, what's going on? What happened?' And he told me the story."

She said the boy had a number of puncture wounds to his leg and ankle and her concerns over his limping prompted her to review his intake forms. She found no record of the child being X-rayed at the hospital and urged the attending doctor to order further checks.

"I said, 'Can we check him? There's no reference to an X-ray. I'm worried there's something else going on.' And it turned out that he did have a fracture," she said.

She said she was concerned the risks of an untreated fracture were substantial and could have caused complications, including infection.

Rolling lockdowns inside the facility were causing children to become distressed and anxious, the nurse said. It was common for lockdowns to last for 23 hours a day, causing some young people to ask for anti-psychotic medications.

"Young people who were incredibly distressed at the prospect of lockdowns, I'd have young people requesting medication that you would use when someone's highly distressed.

"We're talking Risperidone and Olanzapine because they were so stressed at the prospect of being locked down and locked within their cell and isolated and left on their own," she said.

She said nurses often have no choice but to administer medications to people through the hatch of the cell door.

"There's times where I can't access the young person," she said. "I'm trying to be someone's safe person who they can trust but I can't actually properly engage with them."

John Lawrence SC, a Darwin-based barrister who has had Don Dale detainees as clients, said in his 30 years of legal practice he has never seen conditions so bad.

"It is shameful," Lawrence said. "This isolation cell is dirty, ants and cockroaches cover the walls."

He said one of his clients, a 12-year-old boy, was becoming increasingly distressed with lockdowns and isolation requirements amid Covid and it was taking a heavy toll on his wellbeing.

"His parents and family are all distressed," Lawrence said. "When they saw him last he was literally begging for any type of medication that could possibly alleviate his anxiety and distress. This situation is just beyond the pale."

An NT government spokesperson said they could not comment on individual cases but said "concerns raised by former staff had not been shared" with the government.

All young people are medically assessed on arrival at the centre, the spokesperson said. If a youth justice officer notices or is told about a medical condition, an immediate referral is provided to Danila Dilba health service, which provides care at the clinic at Don Dale, or the child is taken to hospital if necessary.

The health clinic at Don Dale was in "sound, operational working condition", the spokesperson said.

"Danila Dilba operates out of a health clinic that has all the necessary, modern requirements to deliver culturally appropriate health care," they said.

The spokesperson said any medication is given "on need" and any maintenance issues are reported to facility manager and addressed.

A new youth detention centre is being built in Darwin to replace the ageing Don Dale, which will eventually be closed, the spokesperson said.

The chief executive of Danila Dilba health service, Rob Mcphee, said Don Dale was unfit for both staff and detainees, but the allegation of leaks in the clinic had not been raised with him.

"I don't think the facility is suitable for anyone - it needs to be demolished," he said. "Once we have moved out that place it needs to be knocked down. It's not an appropriate facility for anything really.

"I have been out to the clinic a few times and have visited fairly regularly. It's not the best facility, it's what we make of it. When there are issues with maintenance or building issues they are usually fixed pretty quickly."

McPhee said Danila Dilba staff were very concerned about the high levels of stress caused by lockdowns and clinicians has repeatedly raised it with him.

"And we have raised those concerns with Territory Families as well, we've raised concerns around the frequency of lockdowns and locking at ways we can avoid them.

But the nurse said she feared there would be another death at the facility. A 16-year-old boy died by suicide there in February 2000.

"There would be days where I would come home in tears. I'm still worried that I will wake up and there'll be the death of a young person in Don Dale," she said.

"I have no doubt about it. I am concerned that it will take a death for this to really be addressed."

The nurse said she had repeatedly raised her concerns informally in conversations with management and registered a formal complaint anonymously with the NT children's commissioner, but was told it can be several months before an outcome is reached.

But she said she feared she wouldn't be taken seriously if she lodged a formal complaint. "Frankly, none of this is new. We say things and nothing changes."