New $500m NT prison opens in Darwin

A NEW 1000-bed prison has opened in Darwin and will aim to give inmates self-respect by getting them to work, the NT government says.

MOST new prisons probably don't open with a full bagpipe marching band and an Aboriginal smoking ceremony, but that was the welcome afforded to Darwin's $500 million jail.

TOUTED as the Northern Territory government's single largest infrastructure project, which will end up costing taxpayers $1.8 billion over the next 30 years, the Darwin Correctional Precinct was officially opened more than two months late on Monday.