Footage has emerged of a teenager being put in restraints, including a spit mask, by officers at Brisbane Correctional Centre.
The footage, obtained by The Courier Mail and posted to its website, purportedly shows seven officers restraining the 17-year-old Aboriginal teen, with handcuffs attached to a body belt and a spit mask over his head.
Jarrod Clayton was reportedly on remand for a number of offences, including break and enters, armed robbery and car thefts.
The newspaper reports the teen was restrained because he pressed the emergency button in his cell without reason – something he was warned not to do the day before. He was reportedly left alone in the cell for more than an hour while restrained.
The video emerged in February 2013 after an investigation was launched by the Prisoners’ Legal Service into the treatment of the teenager.
Director of the Prisoners’ Legal Service, Peter Lyons, told the newspaper he believed the officers’ actions were “extreme and degrading”.
“This is a classic example of what happens when you place a 17-year-old in the environment of an adult prison,” he said.
“The use of multiple restraints and abandonment of the juvenile while restrained and hooded amounted, in our opinion, to punishment unlawfully administered by the corrective services officers.”
Queensland is the only Australian state where 17-year-olds are treated as adults in the criminal justice system.
Earlier this month, Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath launched an independent review into allegations young offenders had been mistreated by guards at a Townsville facility.
The announcement came after revelations by the ABC's 4Corners program of alleged mistreatment from guards in the Northern Territory's youth justice system, particularly at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.
At the time, Ms D'Ath said footage aired by 4Corners was "appalling" and said that "spit hoods... are not used in Queensland".
Prison reports reportedly show Mr Clayton was regarded as “highly disruptive”, “had no respect or regard for other prisoners or staff” and was “showing increasing signs of aggression”.
Before this incident, Mr Clayton had never been in detention.