Two inmates rushed to hospital after fire at Darwin Correctional Centre

Prisoners were rushed to hospital following a fire at a Top end correctional centre last week.

A FIRE at Darwin Correctional Centre last week resulted in two prisoners being rushed to hospital for further treatment after they were found unconscious in their cells.

NT Police Serious Crime detectives are investigating the fire, which started about 9pm last Thursday, August 19.

NT Correctional Services Acting Commissioner David Thompson confirmed the two male prisoners were treated for smoke inhalation and taken to the Palmerston Regional Hospital.

Prison sources told Sky News the prisoners had been dragged from their cell unconscious, but Mr Thompson did not directly respond to a question about this.

“Correctional officers responded quickly and two prisoners received medical support for smoke inhalation,” Mr Thompson said in a statement.

“As a precautionary measure the prisoners were then taken to Palmerston Regional Hospital for further assessments and treatment and transported back to (the Darwin Correctional Centre) shortly afterwards.

“Correctional Services cannot comment further because the matter is still under investigation by the NT Fire Brigade and NT Police.”

A fire at the Darwin Correctional Centre resulted in two prisoners being rushed to hospital.

Detective Senior Sergeant Brett Cottier confirmed NT Police were investigating.

“NT Fire and Rescue Service attended Darwin Correctional Centre on August 19 following reports of a fire in a cell shortly before 9pm,” he said.

“Correctional Services officers had implemented their emergency response procedures and had the incident contained but two prisoners were treated for smoke inhalation and the cell sustained some smoke damage.

“The circumstances surrounding the cause of the fire are under investigation by Serious Crime detectives.”

Prison sources told Sky News Australia an internal fault caused a delay in alerting officers as to which cell the fire had started in.

Under the terms of its public-private partnership, the NT government can penalise private contractor Sentinel when faults occur.

NT Correctional Services did not directly answer a question about whether there had been a fault that had delayed the response to the fire.

NT Police did not directly answer a question about whether and action had been taken against the prison or its contractor as a result of the incident.