Alice Springs Youth Centre to be taken over by adults, children to be moved to Don Dale

REVEALED: As the overcrowding crisis in NT prisons worsens, Central Australian kids may be separated from family and health and legal services and shipped 1500km away to Don Dale.

The Alice Springs youth detention centre.

Central Australian children may soon be shipped more than 1500km away from their families, community and health and legal services due to severe prison overcrowding.

The NT News has been told by multiple sources the Country Liberal Party plans to turn the recently refurbished 25-bed Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre into a women’s prison to manage rising adult prisoner numbers.

It is understood children sentenced in Alice Springs will be moved to the infamous Don Dale — a formerly decommissioned high-security adults prison in Berrimah — while young people on remand will remain at the old alcohol rehabilitation centre, Paperbark in Alice Springs.

It comes just eight months after the Central Australian youth centre was reopened, after being customised specifically around the therapeutic, rehabilitative, health and educational needs of young prisoners.

Inside the refurbished Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre.

Even during the development of the new centre there was significant concern about Central Australian kids being temporarily moved to Darwin, away from family, Country and their health and legal services.

The Office of the Children’s Commissioner launched an inquiry into the adequacy of planning and implementation of their removal, while four boys sued Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre acting superintendent in May 2023 stating the move did not consider the effect on their “physical, psychological and emotional welfare”.

Inside the refurbished Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre.

Their application was rejected after Justice John Burns found it was necessary due to overcrowding at the Alice Springs centre.

According to the latest youth detention data from July there were an average of 10 children locked up in Alice Springs and 14 in Don Dale — only half of whom had been found guilty and sentenced.

All of those children were Aboriginal.

Chansey Paech as protestors gathered in front of Parliament House on Wednesday to protest the potential lowering of the criminal age of responsibility in the NT. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Former Attorney General Chansey Paech challenged the new Corrections Minister Gerard Maley about the plan in parliament on Thursday.

Mr Paech said if Alice Springs children were to be removed it would deny them access to their families and services, ultimately “setting back their chances of rehabilitation”.

“There will be no opportunity for the family to work with the young people around therapeutic response or helping them get their lives back on track,” he said.

Protests outside the notorious Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

While Mr Maley did not confirm if Alice Springs children would be removed, he indicated a plan to “deal with the Corrections problem” would be released shortly.

“The CLP government has come to office and looked at this, and the corrections facility is a mess,” he said.

“No-one wants to see children locked up.

“We are looking under every stone and every piece of paper to find out what we can do to make the corrections system better across the Northern Territory.”

Mr Maley blamed Labor for not investing in Youth Justice infrastructure, while also criticising the $32m spent on upgrades to the Alice Springs children’s prison and the $130m still-unopened new Darwin youth detention centre.

Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley at the official Opening and First Meeting of the 15th Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory.' Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“It did not invest in infrastructure... the pack-and-stack method did not work,” Mr Maley said.

“We cannot leave these children to be put away and forgotten about.”

The CLP was repeatedly asked to respond to alleged plans, however referred responses to Corrections.

A spokesman told the NT News on Monday, October 14 that Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley was undertaking an “urgent review of all options within existing infrastructure”.

“Including the development of new work camps and a new purpose built women’s prison,” he said.

Originally published as Alice Springs Youth Centre to be taken over by adults, children to be moved to Don Dale