A report on a major disturbance at a Darwin juvenile detention centre cherry-picked facts and ignored context, the Northern Territory's Corrections Commissioner says.
A report by the NT Children's Commissioner has criticised inadequate staff training and inhumane solitary confinement cells at the former Don Dale youth detention centre, in which six teen prisoners were held for up to 17 days, when the maximum allowable period is three days.
The cramped, darkened cells had no windows, air-conditioning or fans, and no tap for drinking water or washing.
On August 21 last year, detainee "E" became agitated when told he would remain in solitary confinement for another three days.
"The kids kept asking if they could get out and management never had any answers for them, and the detainees went off and I don't blame them; I would have, too," one staff member said.
"It wouldn't have happened if they didn't keep them in there for so long.
"It is horrible, it stinks. I am surprised it didn't happen sooner."
Corrections Commissioner Ken Middlebrook said he was unhappy that the boys were kept in extended solitary confinement.
"Am I happy about that?" Mr Middlebrook told reporters on Friday.
"No, but we had those same boys escape from the centre on the 3rd of August. They threatened staff with weapons, they escaped the facility, they caused a lot of havoc in and around Darwin over that weekend."
The report also did not mention the problems that group of prisoners had been causing, Mr Middlebrook said.
"It's certainly not in-depth and doesn't really paint the whole picture of what happened; they're convenient facts, there's pieces taken out of it."
Mr Middlebrook said there had been improved record-keeping and staff training after all those interviewed for the report said the three days they received were inadequate, compared with up to 11 weeks in other jurisdictions.
E escaped his cell after staff left the door unlocked and smashed several glass panels and windows.
Some of the other boys attempted to trash their cells but two did not participate, the report found.
Yet the department told police that five detainees had escaped their cells and assaulted staff with shards of glass, bricks and steel poles, which former children's commissioner Howard Bath said was "inaccurate and misleading".
Mr Middlebrook said he did not know where the figure of five escapees came from.
Ultimately, Mr Middlebrook ordered that all the boys in the unit be tear-gassed.
"I had a young fellow with shards of glass throwing them at staff and I don't resile from the action I took, and it resolved the situation very quickly," he said.
"The others were kicking and belting doors, it was a fairly volatile situation."
No time frame has been set for addressing the report's recommendations, Labor spokeswoman Natasha Fyles said.
"The (justice) minister needs to explain how we got to a situation with our juveniles where the human rights of the UN were violated; it's not acceptable," she said.
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