More than one per cent of all Territorians are incarcerated as prisoner numbers continue to skyrocket under the new CLP government.

A further 84 people have been incarcerated since Christmas eve, Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley confirmed, as the NT once again broke its prison population record.

There are now 2598 people locked up as of December 30, with the numbers predicted to rise dramatically when punitive laws lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 come into effect next week.

The government has refused to apologise for the numbers, which now see the NT with the second highest incarceration rate in the world behind only El Salvador, arguing it is the price of "keeping Territorians safe".

"This sends a clear message — if you commit a crime, you will face the consequences," Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said.

Blaming the former Labor government for the prison issues, Minister Maley argued: "Protecting Territorians is our priority, and we are doing what needs to be done to keep the community safe."

"Our government will not apologise for continuing to lock up those who cause harm in our community," he said.

The government has argued their 'tough on crime' electoral mandate required them to legislate lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10, as well as bringing back spit hoods in youth detention and enacting "Declan's Law", whereby offenders categorised as violent are automatically remanded to jail with a presumption against bail.

It has been slammed by experts as a "disaster waiting to happen".

NT News reported Commissioner Varley said the system was struggling with the "overwhelming pressure" of the rising prison numbers.

"We've seen a steep rise in the prison population, all of our facilities are at maximum capacity and the watch houses are full," he said.

With the lowering of the age to come into full force next week, experts argue these numbers will continue to skyrocket.

"The new Chief Minister has been elected on a platform to reduce crime, but her punitive agenda will do the exact opposite," NATSILS' chair Karly Warner said in September.

"Law and order posturing about punishment, power and control has never worked before and it won't work now."

On lowering the age, she added: "The NT already has by far the highest imprisonment rates in Australia – if jailing children worked, this would already be the safest place in the country."

Currently, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people aged 14-17 are incarcerated at a higher rate in the NT than anywhere else in the country, whilst the latest Closing the Gap data saw eight metrics failing to improve - the worst result of any jurisdiction.

On an average day in 2022-23, Indigenous children and young people were 42.9 times more likely to be in youth detention in the NT compared to non-Indigenous children and young people.

In October, the government announced an increase in prison capacity across the NT to 3000 beds by 2028, with data currently only 2177 beds across the prisons and work camps.

At the time, Justice Reform Initiative executive director Dr Mindy Sotiri said "This is short-term, knee-jerk policy making".

"We urge the NT Government to shift its focus to reducing the numbers of people flowing into the criminal justice system, instead of rushing to expensive band-aid solutions which will not ultimately address the problems," Dr Sotiri said.

Commissioner Varley said whilst rehabilitation programs are key to preventing "the cycle of reoffending," the delivery of these programmes is hindered by staffing and prisoner numbers.

"Our prison system is at capacity, it's stretched, that means we're not able to provide all of the services that we'd like to — that's just a fact of life," Mr Varley said, as reported by NT News.