Almost 400 Indigenous children have been held in the Northern Territory's police watch houses across just six months, the ABC has revealed.
The national broadcaster's exclusive also found that how long the children were kept in the watch houses may never been known because of erroneous time-spent-in-custody information recorded by NT Police.
Police data accessed under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws covered the period August 25, 2024, to March 5, 2025. The FOI process was used after NT Police refused to release the data on request.
The ABC reports the data revealed there were 870 youth "custody events" in NT police watch houses over the six months involving 402 individual youths.
388 of the 402 children were Indigenous.
The independent member for the Territory electorate of Mulka, Yingiya Guyula, told the ABC children in watch houses were being "traumatised in a way that does not encourage rehabilitation".
"I have visited the watch house in Palmerston and holding people for days in these conditions is just cruel," he said.
"It makes me cry to think of children held in these conditions."
Earlier this month, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) called for the suspension of Commonwealth funding for remote policing and justice operations in the Northern Territory, warning it is the only way to stem what it describes as an incarceration "crisis".
The Territory's approach to crime — led by the CLP government since its election last year — has drawn criticism from Indigenous, legal, and human rights groups. Among the most controversial changes are a rollback of the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10, and tougher bail laws.
New data showed 2,842 people are currently imprisoned in the NT; over 600 more than when the CLP took office. Almost 90 per cent of those in custody are Indigenous, and nearly half (49 per cent) are on remand (they have either not been convicted or not been sentenced).
The statistics reported by the ABC on Monday cover six Territory watch houses, including the Peter McAuley Centre police headquarters in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Palmerston.
The watch houses, meant to be used only as a stopgap place for the youths to be processed after their arrests before they are taken to a newly built youth detention centre in Darwin, are notorious for overcrowding, windowless cells, and 24-hour artificial light.
NAAJA has revealed an 11-year-old girl was held in the Palmerston watch house for two days, and in March a 15-year-old girl was held in the same watch house for three nights after the local court, overwhelmed by demand under the CLP's new laws, ceased after-hours bail reviews for youth.
As part of the ABC's FOI request, NT Police released data logs showing how long each child had spent in custody in the watch houses. The data revealed that while the majority were in custody for less than 24 hours, some children had spent up to 25 days at a time inside Palmerston watch house. Others were recorded to have been kept in watch houses for six, seven or eight-day periods.
However, NT Police told the ABC the data was not accurate.
"While the report you received reflects what was recorded in the system at the time, it does not account for process variations that can affect how custody end times are calculated," a police spokesperson told the national broadcaster.
The spokesperson said police could not provide an accurate time frame for each of the 870 custody cases, as it would require "a manual analysis of each custody incident", and that "no youths have been held in police watch houses for 25 days straight".
In November 2023, NT Police replaced its former crime data IT software with a new system named SerPro, which cost $58 million to roll out and has been plagued by problems.
Mr Guyula said the erroneous data needed to be fixed immediately.
"We don't trust the information that we are being given," he told the ABC.
"The police data shows some children are being held in watch houses for long periods, even weeks.
"If the data is not correct, the police need to provide the correct data.
"This makes no sense, that the [police force] is providing one thing in writing and then saying that something else exists."
With additional reporting by Dechlan Brennan.
