The Northern Territory's overcrowded prison system has been under the microscope in the coroner's court today, the commissioner revealing stretched resources and under staffing has meant some prisoners are unable to access rehabilitation programs. Despite an injection of millions of dollars and a vow to improve the system the Corrections Commissioner says he still fears it won't be enough.
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00:00 Fronting the corridor and vowing to do better, the boss of the
00:05 territory's correction system painted a picture of life behind the wire.
00:09 The Alice Springs Correctional Centre has capacity for 680 prisoners.
00:14 Today, it's full.
00:16 In Darwin, where there's space for 1,337 prisoners, there's 1,333, plus another 52 sentenced
00:26 prisoners being held in police watch houses.
00:29 More than half of those behind bars are there because of domestic violence.
00:33 The commissioner said both prisons are being renovated to increase capacity, and that if
00:38 he could close the watch houses tomorrow, he would.
00:42 But the number of prisoners in the territory, predominantly Indigenous, is predicted to
00:46 keep growing.
00:48 The commissioner telling the court, ultimately, intervention is needed before someone lands
00:52 in jail.
00:53 There needs to be a shift in the community's thinking and behavioural approach of men towards
00:59 women.
01:00 Each of the men who killed the four women at the centre of the coroner's inquiry had
01:04 prior convictions for violence and had spent time in territory prisons.
01:09 Some had access to the rehabilitation programs, others didn't.
01:12 The coroner has previously told the court the prison system doesn't appear to be working.
01:18 Commissioner Varley conceded more resources are critical.
01:22 I don't know what the number is, but others have called for needs-based funding, and I
01:26 can't think of a better example of the need.
01:30 Also backing the cry for needs-based funding for a jurisdiction with the highest rates
01:34 of domestic and family violence in the country, and the lowest share of the national money
01:39 pool, is those on the front line, whose critical services are constantly overwhelmed.
01:45 When we turn women away, we turn them away with the knowledge that they might not come
01:50 back to us.
01:51 The evidence before the coroner has a consistent theme.
01:55 For front line services, there's not enough money to keep women safe.
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