The Northern Territory government needs to urgently engage with community-based solutions to combat rampant overcrowding in prisons, the Justice Reform Initiative has said.
Last week, the new CLP government announced an increase in prison capacity to 3000 by 2028, with data showing the NT currently houses 2324 inmates, but with only 2177 beds across prisons and work camps.
The announcement was criticised by justice advocates, who argue it is a band-aid to a problem which requires a non-punitive solution.
Justice Reform Initiative Northern Territory campaign coordinator, Rocket Bretherton, said the unacceptable conditions in prison for both inmates and staff were due in a large part to government policy decisions.
"We need to be putting fewer people into prison, recognising that there is no evidence that imprisoning more people reduces crime," she said.
"No one is winning at the moment – not the people who are locked up and confined to their cells for most of the day, nor the prison staff who are being asked to work in unsafe conditions, nor the community, who are not made safer through this failed 'tough on crime' approach."
Last week it was revealed inmates - including women and children - are being moved 1500 km away from their families in Central Australia to detention facilities in Darwin, causing the NT Child Commissioner Shahleena Musk to say she is "deeply concerned" about the decision.
"Transferring Aboriginal children thousands of kilometres away from their families and their country is detrimental to their wellbeing, their sense of identity and may impair rehabilitation prospects," she said.
Corrective Services data from the June Quarter showed an average daily imprisonment rate in the NT of 1,150.8 per 100,000 people—3.4 times higher than the next highest jurisdiction, WA.
Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley admitted on the weekend female inmates were sleeping on mattresses on the floor due to a lack of space.
"I'm not going to make any apologies for the fact that these prisoners are on mattresses on the floor. They're on mattresses in watch houses, I'd point out, and these ones here in prison actually have access to better facilities than they do in watch houses," he said.
Ms Bretherton said the steady increase in prison numbers in the NT would only get worse with new legislation lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10, as well as a series of 'tough on crime' laws, including restricting access to bail, outlawing public drinking and mandatory sentencing.
"The answer is not to build more prisons but examine why so many people are in prison in the first place and address those underlying drivers of crime," she said.
It mirrors comments made by Commissioner Musk, who said earlier this month: "If a tough on crime approach worked, the NT would be the safest place in Australia."
Ms Bretherton said the government needed to look at "all the options" to reduce the pressure on prisons, citing the release of inmates who are not being held for serious offences or who are low risk to serve home detention or be placed on community corrections supervision orders.
She also cited releasing people who are on remand but won't serve lengthy sentences, as well as reopening the rehabilitation service at Stringybark Centre in Berrimah - closed to make way for a women's prison - and releasing people close to the end of their sentences for drug and alcohol related offending into rehabilitation.
"We send people to prison for punishment but being locked down because of a lack of staff makes the experience far more punitive and goes well beyond the acceptable standards," she said.
"It's time to stop looking for short-term fixes by moving people around and look for evidence-based solutions that address the bigger problems."
