The new Northern Territory government has today revealed a major, as yet uncosted, four year plan to build new jails and work camps to try and ease the pressure on the NT’s strained prison system. As part of the plan, youth detainees will be moved from Alice Springs to Darwin, which is already attracting criticism for taking young Aboriginal people from their land and families.
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00:00A prison close to bursting point, and the men tasked with trying to fix it.
00:08We have seen an unprecedented growth in prison population over the last couple of years since
00:12I became commissioner, almost a 400 person increase in that estate, which puts incredible
00:17pressure on our staff and our facilities.
00:19With NT Prisons already at capacity, and prisoners stuck in police watch houses, a new plan's
00:26been rolled out to increase capacity by up to 3,000 beds over four years.
00:31It's the largest infrastructure program that we've rolled out ever.
00:36It provides us with a range of correctional facilities of different security classifications
00:41across the NT, including new women's facilities and new work camps.
00:45Among the plans, new work camps in Darwin and Catherine, women's prisons in Darwin and
00:51Alice Springs, and youth detainees will be shifted from Alice Springs to Darwin to free
00:57up beds for adults in central Australia.
01:00Bringing everyone to a central location will give us a better opportunity to offer better
01:04rehabilitation services, to make sure those children have a better choice in life.
01:09That is just absolutely disgraceful.
01:11It's a backward step.
01:12It's back to the future, returning kids to facilities that are insufficient.
01:17We're in the process of being removed from country, the land, the family, and all the
01:26resources that they need to learn about discipline, education and stuff is back home there.
01:34The youth detainees are moving to the notorious Don Dale Detention Centre until a new youth
01:39facility opens as soon as next month.
01:43After that, Don Dale will be repurposed for adult men.
01:47Nobody should be held in that facility.
01:50It was, yeah, it should have been decommissioned and closed down a long time ago.
01:54I certainly won't be putting my officers into a facility that I don't judge to be appropriate.
01:58The government promises Don Dale will only be used for two more years, until its newly
02:04built prisons and work camps come into operation.