Unreported World

Australia's Boys Behind Bars (2017x16)

Air date: Nov 17, 2017

Sophie Morgan reports from Australia where leaked footage of the shocking treatment of young prisoners - most of them Aboriginal teenagers - in a juvenile detention centre in the county's Northern Territory has sparked outcry and a government inquiry. Ninety-four per cent of young people held in detention centres in the Northern Territory are Aboriginal, although they make up only a quarter of the state's population. Morgan and director Simon Rawles meet one of the boys at the centre of the scandal, who reveals his harsh treatment behind bars. The team also investigates a hidden issue that makes these young prisoners' situation even more upsetting. Unreported World discovers recent evidence suggesting that as many as two fifths of these young prisoners have an intellectual disability known as foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, linked to their mothers' use of alcohol during pregnancy.