Two 17yo boys escape Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre during corrections crisis

An extensive search operation is underway for two 17-year-old boys who escaped from one of the Territory’s correctional facilities, amid a department staff and capacity crisis.

Alice Springs Correctional Centre youth detention centre. Picture: Gera Kazakov

An extensive search operation is underway for two 17-year-old boys who escaped from one of the Territory’s correctional facilities, amid a department staff and capacity crisis.

A NT Police spokesperson said the youths escaped from Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre on Tuesday night.

One source told this masthead the duo escaped about 5pm on Tuesday, when they jumped on the roof of the block, and “made their way through razor wire”.

The youths were last seen heading south from Alice Springs, the police spokesperson said, with the latest sighting in the Ilparpa Road area.

“An extensive search operation is underway, involving dog units, drones, and general duties officers,” they said.

NT Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley on Wednesday morning said youth justice officers had tried to negotiate with the teens while they were on the roof.

“The young people escaped the perimeter by using materials they had forcibly removed from the roof as a tool to shield themselves from razor wire as they climbed over the fence,” Mr Varley said.

Alice Springs Correctional Centre. Picture: Jason Walls

“NT Police attended the site to investigate. The investigation is active and ongoing.

“The Department of Corrections will conduct an internal investigation into the escape incident, as per standard protocols, and will provide a report to the Commissioner.

“The centre was appropriately staffed at the time of the incident.”

The escape comes amid “a record prisoner crisis”, Mr Varley told media on Tuesday afternoon.

The “crisis” led to a series of “emergency actions” being implemented by Mr Varley – much to the ire of Corrections officers, with almost 400 union members supporting a walk out.

According to Deputy Chief Minister and Corrections Minister Gerard Maley, one of the teenagers had 273 previous criminal occurrences with police.

The second, he said, had 90 previous criminal occurrences.

The double escape also comes after Mr Maley visited Alice Springs Correctional Centre and Youth Detention Centre on Tuesday afternoon to get a “first-hand look at the situation”, he said in a statement on Wednesday morning.

He used the visit to bash the previous Labor government for their “ideology-driven poor law and order policies”.

In his statement, he further attacked the former Labor government.

Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley speaking at a press conference in Darwin on Tuesday. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“Labor didn’t prioritise Corrections or the Holtze Youth Detention Centre. That’s why it’s more than two years overdue and $75 million over budget,” he said.

“Labor spent more than $40 million refurbishing the Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre which had an initial budget of $13 million.”

Of note, the CLP have not yet released how much their 1000 bed NT prisons upgrade plan is set to cost – with Labor previously claiming the plan could cost $700 million.

Originally published as Two 17yo boys escape Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre during corrections crisis