The Northern Territory's booming prison population has reached a new record, growing by more than 470 prisoners since the Country Liberal Party assumed government in August. The ongoing crisis is taking a toll on police officers, as well as inmates inside overcrowded prisons and police watch houses.
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00:00A crisis with no clear end.
00:05We've got 400, just over 400 more people in prison since the CLP came to power in August
00:13than previously under Labor.
00:15And that really reflects how many people should have been behind bars that weren't.
00:19In a statement, the Department of Corrections confirmed the Northern Territory's adult prison
00:24population has reached a new high of 2,658.
00:29With each prisoner costing about $330 per day, the Territory's daily incarceration bill
00:35is now nearly $880,000.
00:40Behind the numbers, prison staff and inmates enduring dangerous conditions.
00:45There's limited room for showering, limited room for exercise in the facility, so potentially
00:50they're locked up in a cell for sometimes the 24 hours out of the 24 hour period.
00:55The ABC understands police watch houses have become so overcrowded that prisoners are sleeping
01:01on mattresses on the floor in filthy cells for weeks at a time, often in stifling hot
01:07conditions.
01:09They can only take a shower every four or five days and have no choice but to use the
01:13toilet in front of up to 15 other inmates.
01:16The crisis affecting police.
01:19They've been instructed that non-urgent arrests are to be avoided if possible to alleviate
01:24the pressures we're currently seeing in our watch houses.
01:26That's an instruction by NT Police.
01:28The Northern Territory's Police Commissioner denied any such directive, but conceded there
01:33is a problem.
01:34It's a low level offending, they would probably pursue another course of avenue as an infringement
01:40notice or a notice to appear or a summons, because every police officer across the Territory
01:45knows the pressures we're under in the watch house.
01:47The NT Government says it's working on a solution.
01:50They're well on track to make sure we've got 200 prisoners in the Berrima facility
01:54by March.
01:55Work is underway in Alice Springs to finalise the 96 new beds there.
02:00A corrections crisis plan.