NT prisons full: Plea for United Nations to probe prisoner number crisis

The United Nations has been urged to step in to probe another emerging crisis in the Northern Territory. Find out what it is.

NT corrections commissioner Matthew Varley and Deputy chief minister Gerard Maley speak to the media at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre. Picture: Gera Kazakov

The magnitude of the Northern Territory’s growing prison population crisis is becoming clearer with Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley saying staff are stressed and resources are “absolutely stretched” providing coverage of corrections sites.

And the problem and record number of prisoners may soon come under the scrutiny of the United Nations with independent Arnhem Land politician Yiŋiya Guyula making a request to the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to visit the NT.

Mr Guyula wants UN oversight of what is happening in Territory jails and watch-houses and for it to probe the “terrible conditions” which includes up to “18 people stuffed into a cell and people sleeping on the floor without bedding”.

Commissioner Varley confirmed the record number of people in detention had resulted in bulging cell capacity and detainees having to sleep on mattresses on cell floors.

Mr Varley said more than 2700 prisoners were currently being held in correctional facilities and police watch-houses.

Prisoner numbers have reached record levels which has required the old Darwin Prison being brought back into service.

“That number has grown significantly over the past few months and staff are stretched to the limit adapting to it,” he said.

Northern Territory Police Association president Nathan Finn said the police union was deeply concerned about the safety of staff working inside watch houses and said the situation was having an “unacceptable” impact on police officers.

“No one needs to go to work thinking they’ll be assaulted,” he said.

It was a sentiment echoed by the Corrections Commissioner.

“Safety and security is first and foremost,” Commissioner Varley said.

“Every prisoner has to be safe and secure and along with that is the safety and security of staff in the prisons it is among the challenges at the moment.

“I have to make sure the prisoners and the staff are safe.

“The staff are doing the best they can in really tough circumstances. We are continuing to work on how we redistribute our workforce around the system at the moment.

“Officers are working overtime, they’re stressed.

“There are large numbers of people in watch-houses in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs.

“We have dorms in prisons with 16 people in them, but we also have large numbers of people in watch-houses sleeping on mattresses on the floors.

“It is not a desirable situation but it is a necessity at the moment.

“You can’t just simply manage the prison population by jamming more people into the existing infrastructure.”

Minister for Corrections Gerard Maley said the government was accelerating key Corrections infrastructure projects to expand prisoner capacity while focusing on safety and operational standards.

“Our government is fast-tracking projects to expand capacity, to manage the more than 400 additional prisoners who have entered the Corrections system since the August election,” he said.

“Work continues at the Berrimah Correctional Centre, taking the total bed count to more than 160 beds since opening in December.

“One of the most pressing challenges we face is the significant gap between the rising prisoner population and our ability to recruit and train corrections staff at the pace required to meet this demand.

“We acknowledge this is putting significant pressure on the corrections system, including police watch-houses.”

Originally published as NT prisons full: Plea for United Nations to probe prisoner number crisis