Alice Springs Correctional Centre to increase capacity amid staffing crisis

Up to 80 extra prisoners will be housed at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre as the facility battles overcrowding. But the move has sparked fears for correctional officers’ mental health.

Up to 80 additional inmates will be housed in the at-capacity Alice Springs Correctional Centre under a new plan to address rising prisoner numbers across the Territory.

In an email to staff, Alice Springs Correctional Centre general manager Bill Carroll said preparations were being made to increase the prison’s capacity from 650 to 730 by the end of 2023 as well as implementing other changes.

Mr Carroll said the increase had “not previously been considered given the resources available to manage current prisoner numbers”.

The revelation comes after it was revealed police watch houses across the Territory were being used to house prisoners, with Alice Springs Correctional Centre at capacity on Friday while Darwin Correctional Centre was seven prisoners shy of its 1250-person limit.

An additional 80 beds will be added to Alice Springs Correctional Centre amid a staffing crisis, with the facility at capacity.

“It is now evident that with the annual trend, more and more prisoners are being held within the watch house,” Mr Carroll wrote inthe email.

He said watch houses were “not intended for accommodation” due to the lack of adequate facilities, with prisoners being left without access to showers for as long as two days.

The Attorney-General’s Department said the number of prisoners being kept in watch houses was within expected range.

Mr Carroll said the prison’s capacity would be increased to from 650 to 680 in the short-term before another 50 beds were added by December.

It is understood modular buildings were being looked at as an option to house the extra prisoners.

“It is envisioned in the interim until full these beds will give much needed relief to the overcrowding to our dormitories,” he wrote.

Alice Springs Correctional Centre general manager Bill Carroll said the facility’s capacity would be increased from 650 to 730 by December.

However, he said prisoners would likely need to be housed at the watch house even after the additional beds were added.

The additional beds will be spread across parts of the prison depending on prisoners’ security classification.

In the email, Mr Carroll said consultation regarding staff numbers had started.

United Workers Union NT branch secretary Erina Early said increasing the prison’s capacity without hiring additional corrections officers would put further strain on guards at Alice Springs.

“They’re going to break,” Ms Early said.

“We’re going to have a rolling ascent of prison officers having mental breakdowns.

“They’re not going to be able to cope.

United Workers Union NT branch secretary Erina Early said additional prisoners at Alice Springs Correctional Centre would put additional stress on already overworked correctional officers. Picture: Floss Adams

“They’re dealing with some of the most vulnerable people incarcerated in these prisons … and there’s only so much they can take.”

Ms Early called on the NT government to do more to address the staffing crisis at the prison after a number of officers at Alice Springs resigned in recent weeks.

“They wait until something tragic happens to do something,” Ms Early said.

“It’s a joke.”

A corrections spokesman said work was underway to address increasing prisoner numbers and operational demand.