The lawyer for Dylan Voller, who was pictured as a 17-year-old hooded and strapped to a mechanical chair in the Northern Territory, says his client is "scared for his safety" and should be released immediately.
Mr Voller has been in and out of juvenile detention since he was 11 years old. Now 19, he is currently being held in an adult jail. Footage showed him, along with other teenage boys, being tear-gassed, shackled and beaten by guards at the Don Dale detention facility.
Mr Voller and the other boys are now suing the Northern Territory government for the incidents that occurred while they were in detention.
The investigation by the ABC's Four Corners program has prompted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to establish a Royal Commission into youth detention, with the cooperation of the Northern Territory government.
Mr Voller’s lawyer, Peter O’Brien said his client is considering going into voluntary isolation because he's afraid for his life.
"He needs to be released, he's scared for his safety in there," Mr O'Brien told the ABC.
"The same people who have brutalised him in the Don Dale detention centre are now working as his guards in the adult prison in Darwin. How can he be [anything] other than frightened for his life?"
New claims of abuse are also emerging. A former guard has told the ABC Mr Voller was put in a mechanical restraint chair on "at least three occasions", disputing claims by the Northern Territory Corrections Department that it had only been used once on a youth detainee.
Mr Voller last night released a letter via his lawyer thanking the Australian public for their support and apologising for his behavior.
"I would just like to thank the whole Australian community for the support you have showed for us [boys]," he wrote.
"I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to the community for my wrongs and I can’t wait to get out and make up for them."
NT government ministers face tough questions
NT ministers can expect to be grilled on what they knew about Don Dale detention facility and when. NT Chief Minister Adam Giles and federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said they weren't aware of the extent of the abuse, some of which occurred over six years ago. A report was released in September last year detailing allegations of the tear-gassing of six young males.
Mr Scullion is understood to have been aware of the allegations to be aired on the Monday night program, but instead went out to dinner. He didn't watch the footage until receiving an "agitated" phone call from the prime minister instructing him to "go home and see it".
Mr Giles was asked about reports by legal professionals that named policies specifically against Aboriginal children in detention, including spit-hooding, gassing, shackling and extensive periods of unlawful solitary confinement.
"I take umbrage about it being against Aboriginal people," Mr Giles told ABC's Lateline.
"There is definitely no policy particularly against Aboriginal people."
Mr Giles said the footage indicates elements of poor custodial practices that are "absolutely horrific."
Federal Cabinet will tomorrow consider the terms of reference for the royal commission into the events surrounding the Don Dale mistreatment of youths.
