The Northern Territory must commit to transparency over people being held in watch houses and end the long-term detention of people in such facilities, a leading Indigenous legal group says.
In a strongly worded statement, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) called on the Commonwealth to fund the NT's National Preventive Mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), urged the Territory government to implement it, and said federal funding should be tied to the NT meeting its commitments.
The call comes as incarceration rates continue to surge under the CLP government's law-and-order agenda, which has included lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 and tightening bail laws.
More than one per cent of the Territory's population is now behind bars, almost 90 per cent of whom are Aboriginal. Nearly half of the prison population is on remand.
Many have been housed in watch houses, despite an Ombudsman report last year finding "no prisoner, regardless of their offence, should be held in such conditions".
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While parts of the Darwin City Watch House have been renamed the Darwin Transitional Custody Centre (DTCC), NAAJA says many clients are still being held there for weeks in "watch house-like conditions". This, despite the government announcing in December that almost all prisoners had been moved out of the Territory's watch houses following the Ombudsman's report.
NAAJA chief executive Ben Grimes said changing the name of the facility had not changed conditions inside.
"When they're given time outside, it's in an enclosed concrete car park, exposed to vehicle fumes instead of access to fresh air and a proper exercise yard," Mr Grimes said.
"The temperatures are distressingly cold, with even our visiting lawyers finding it uncomfortable for short periods. Almost all our clients in the facility describe being distressed and disoriented, with noticeable decline in their mental health and well-being."
Mr Grimes said people were being held in small cells with up to five others for around 23 hours a day, often going days without seeing sunlight.
There are also concerns family contact numbers are not being transferred with detainees to DTCC, while lawyers are not being notified when clients are moved, leading to cancelled appointments.
"This raises serious concerns not only about conditions people are experiencing," Mr Grimes said, "but also the inefficiencies being created by the high numbers of people being placed in custody without proper infrastructure and services. When lawyers can't speak with clients, it is bad for everyone because matters can't get resolved."
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Government claims challenged
Last year's report by acting Ombudsman Bronwyn Haack, released during the height of the watch house crisis, showed 17 people crowded into a single Palmerston watch house cell, lying on mattresses on the floor, with one detainee sleeping between two toilets.
She found "prisoners were kept in these conditions for weeks" and in Palmerston and Alice Springs "the only opportunity most Territory prisoners had to leave their crowded cells were to shower at most once every two days".
The government says conditions have eased since the height of the crisis, but has acknowledged its tough-on-crime agenda will lead to more people being incarcerated.
"When we came into government, there were literally hundreds and hundreds of people in watch houses for a very long period of time," Corrections Minister Gerard Maley told the ABC last month.
"We've stopped that."
In response, Mr Grimes said, "In reality, that is simply not true".
One NAAJA client said they had spent 28 days in the facility, while another, who had spent two to three weeks there, was unsure exactly how long because of the lack of sunlight.
"They changed a name, but not their practices," Mr Grimes says. "We should be able to trust the Northern Territory Government to be honest and transparent about where people in detention are being held and what those conditions are like."
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Health concerns and calls for oversight
NAAJA has also raised concerns about a lack of on-site medical staff at DTCC and the absence of routine health screenings, warning this poses a "significant risk to people's health and well-being, and increases the risk of a death in custody".
The issue of health services in custody has remained under scrutiny. In December, 44-year-old mother-of-five Kumanjayi Dempsey died in a police watch house in Tennant Creek.
Her family has launched Federal Court action against the NT government, alleging negligence and accusing police of failing to properly monitor and assess Ms Dempsey's condition while in custody.
NT Police have previously said Ms Dempsey did not disclose she had rheumatic heart disease during a medical assessment after she was taken into custody.
NAAJA is calling for the Commonwealth to fund the NT's OPCAT mechanism, arguing federal funding — which makes up 80 per cent of the Territory's budget — should be tied to "stringent oversight to ensure that the NT Government meets minimum standards".
The federal government has previously said tying funding to Closing the Gap targets in the Territory is a possibility.
While Australia's guiding principles for detention emphasise health and wellbeing, safety and respect for people in custody — in line with international obligations — NAAJA says current conditions fall well short.
The organisation is calling for no one to be held in a watch house for more than four days, with a seven-day maximum in "exceptional cases", immediate notification to lawyers when clients are transferred, and a full health check by an on-site nurse within 12 hours of entering corrections custody.
"This is a concerning sign that not only is the Northern Territory Government not competent to properly care for people in detention," Mr Grimes said, "but they are also trying to hide the reality of what they are doing from Territorians."
