NT corrections: Two new women’s prisons to be established in the Northern Territory

Two new stand-alone women’s prisons will be established in Darwin and Alice Springs. Find out what the plan is for the current Don Dale facility.

Stringybark Centre, in Berrimah, will be repurposed into a women's prison. Picture: Supplied.

Two new stand-alone women’s prisons will be established in Darwin and Alice Springs.

Both will repurpose existing facilities previously occupied by NT Health.

The Stringybark Centre in Berrimah will house about 110 inmates, and Paperbark in Alice Springs will house about 30.

The prisons are expected to be established in the second half of this year once infrastructure upgrades have been completed, with more than $57m committed to deliver the facilities.

Some of that money will also go to temporarily repurposing the current Don Dale Youth Detention Centre as a training facility for male prisoners, after youth detainees are moved to new youth justice facilities in the coming months.

The government has said it does not see this as a permanent use of Don Dale, and future planning is currently underway as part of the Corrections Infrastructure Master Plan.

New NT Deputy Corrections Commissioner Yolonda Adams, Attorney-General Chansey Paech, and Commissioner Matthew Varley at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre.

To date, $14m has been spent on improving the Berrimah prison ‘Don Dale’ — despite the decommissioned maximum-security unit being described by the former Correctional Services Commissioner as “only fit for a bulldozer”.

The original Don Dale site, used until 2014, will be demolished in the near future.

The 2024 Budget will also include an extra $34m to upgrade to the maximum security block and “in the future” install cooling systems at the desert Alice Springs prison.

A combined investment from the Mid-Year Budget of $35.2m would also to support 50 new custodial staff, 40 new support staff, and increased rehabilitation programs and reintegration support.

Attorney-General Chansey Paech said given the high remand numbers, pre-budget discussions were ongoing with legal services to ensure they were adequately resourced.

Attorney-General Chansey Paech said a focus of the facilities was rehabilitation and reintegration. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Paech – who has previously opposed new prisons – said Labor was “moving forward with a commonsense corrections model”.

“One of our primary objectives of these rehabilitation and reintegration centres is to address the underlying factors that contribute to criminal behaviour such as past trauma, substance abuse, mental health issues, and poor access to education and employment opportunities,” he said.

“We know that this is the most effective way to reduce recidivism and support prisoners to successfully integrate into society so that the Territory can be a safer place for everyone.”

The government said NT Health was working to relocate existing alcohol and drug rehab services at Stringybark and Paperbark without any reductions or gaps in service delivery.

Despite closing the rehab facilities, Mr Paech maintained the prisons would be “therapeutic” with the health department consulted for rehabilitative programs.

New Deputy Commissioner Yolonda Adams said these programs would target areas like mental health and substance abuse, particularly as an estimated 96 per cent of women in Alice Springs prison were themselves a victim of domestic abuse.

Correction Commissioner Matthew Varley said the new prisons would increase the total bed capacity by 350, alongside other expansion projects for the Holtze and Alice Springs facilities.

United Workers Union NT Secretary Erina Early said the announcement was a welcome relief, but discussions were ongoing about the details of staffing numbers, rosters and services at the new prisons.

Unions NT secretary Erina Early. Picture: Floss Adams

“It is a step forward for relocating females from male dominated prisons,” Ms Early said.

Ms Early said the Berrimah prison should be considered to accommodate just remand prisoners to allow “wrap around” legal access, counselling and other programs.

“A remand prison will also alleviate the much stretched court systems and unclog the backlog of remand prisoners who largely are kept on remand longer than an actual sentence,” she said.

However Justice Reform Initiative said the 140 bed expansion was an “expensive step in the wrong direction”.

“This sudden move to repurpose health facilities to squeeze in more prison beds highlights the lack of any long-term vision or strategy to tackle the deep-rooted issues around justice and safety in the NT,” JRI director Mindy Sotiri said.