Seven prisoners remain in watch houses as anti-discrimination watchdog blasts government
The anti-discrimination watchdog has demanded the Territory government ensure ‘unreasonable and oppressive’ prison conditions exposed in a recent investigation never happen again.
Just seven corrections inmates remain in police watch houses, as ongoing efforts to increase prison beds begin to ease some pressure on the Northern Territory justice system.
It comes as the anti-discrimination watchdog has called on the government to ensure the recently reported treatment of prisoners in watch houses is never repeated.
The “unreasonable and oppressive” conditions faced by prisoners forced to stay for long periods in police cells was detailed in a recent investigation by the NT Ombudsman.
That report focused on the period between from November 2024 to February this year, following the CLP government’s crime crackdown and an explosion in the NT prison population which saw examples of 17 people sleeping shoulder to shoulder in a single cell, sharing one exposed toilet.
On Monday, the Department of Corrections confirmed it had two prisoners in the Alice Springs watch house, one in Katherine and four in Palmerston.
The total prisoner population sat at 2796, with a 3032 bed capacity - up by more than 850 beds in a 12 month period.
NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Jeswynn Yogaratnam said he was “deeply alarmed” by the Ombudsman report, and backed recommendations for the urgent removal of all Territory prisoners from watch houses.
“These conditions must never occur again,” he said.
Dr Yogaratnam said the report exposed systemic harms created by rushed laws, poor planning and inadequate investment in justice systems.
He said the conditions disproportionately punished Aboriginal Territorians, and raised “serious questions” under anti-discrimination and racial discrimination laws, and the United Nations convention against torture.
“Watch houses are not prisons,” he said.
“They were never designed to hold people for days let alone weeks.
“Territorians sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder beside open toilets, drinking from taps above those toilets, and going without fresh air for weeks is not just a catastrophic failure of systems, it is a failure of our shared humanity.”
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) said the whole justice system “ecosystem” had been thrown out of balance by the CLP government’s “shortsighted tough on crime program”.
It said most people in watch houses during the investigation period had been on remand, meaning they had not been convicted of any crime.
“The photos released in the report show the horrific reality of what happens when governments pursue an ideological agenda without properly considering and planning for the implementation and flow-on impacts,” NAAJA chief executive Ben Grimes said.
“When governments rush tough on crime laws through on urgency, tighten bail and increase penalties, but don’t properly fund courts, interpreters, legal services, housing, supported bail accommodation, youth work, alcohol and other drug services and mental health, this is what happens.”
NAAJA Chairwoman Theresa Roe said Australians would be quick to judge such prison conditions in other countries.
“Our clients have told us about infections, lice, scabies, people losing track of days because the lights never went off, and the mental health harm of being stuck in a noisy, overcrowded cell with no fresh air and no space,” she said.
“It might be normal business for this government, but it should not be normal in any first-world justice system that claims to be fair.”
Originally published as Seven prisoners remain in watch houses as anti-discrimination watchdog blasts government
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