As the Northern Territory's prison population reaches record levels, two former inmates have spoken out about "dehumanising" conditions inside NT jails. They say overcrowding poor hygiene and a lack of rehab left them feeling like animals and they're concerned inmates are leaving worse than when they entered.
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00:00 After spending two and a half years behind bars in the Northern Territory,
00:04 Chris Dutram is counting his blessings.
00:07 So I've been very lucky. Great support network and that's the only thing that has got me through this.
00:12 The former real estate agent's life came crashing down in 2018
00:18 when he was sent to Darwin Correctional Centre for fraud.
00:21 Now a free man, he's finding it hard to shake off what he saw inside.
00:28 And worries dehumanising conditions are creating far worse criminals.
00:32 It's meant to be a correction system what we have and I believe it's almost exactly the opposite.
00:39 With the NT election just months away, crime in the Northern Territory is again centre stage.
00:46 NT prisons are bursting with overcrowding.
00:50 1,300 inmates are behind bars in Darwin alone and almost half of them are in prison.
00:57 And almost half that are in Alice Springs.
01:00 It's hundreds more than the prisons are designed to hold.
01:04 NT Corrections have not planned for the increased prison population.
01:10 At Alice Springs Correctional Centre, where blistering temperatures can exceed 40 degrees,
01:18 there's no air conditioning.
01:20 And the union fears chronic staff shortages are putting both officers and inmates at risk.
01:27 James is a former Alice Springs inmate who's asked to keep his identity private.
01:33 He's had two stints in jail for drug offences and says he was treated worse than an animal.
01:40 I was complaining about the mouse faeces in my Weet-Bix one morning.
01:44 And the guard's like, "Why are you yelling at me?"
01:46 I was quite upset, you know, as you would be eating f***ing mouse s***.
01:49 James claims people are leaving prison more broken than when they went in.
01:55 You don't want to come out a better person.
01:57 It just makes you hate the place and hate everything.
02:01 NT Corrections says it's making improvements across its prisons
02:05 and says routine pest control and daily hygiene inspections are being carried out.
02:10 It's reviewing options for cooling the Alice Springs jail
02:14 and is working to increase capacity at its prisons across the NT,
02:18 adding more than 250 beds over the past year.
02:22 Productivity Commission data shows nearly 60% of NT prisoners
02:27 return to jail within two years of their release, the highest rate in Australia.
02:33 The territory also has the lowest rate of prisoners involved in education and training.
02:39 I love you, bro.
02:41 Former inmate, now justice advocate, Rocket Bretherton,
02:45 credits prisoner programs for turning her life around.
02:49 She's worried understaffing within prisons is hurting the people inside.
02:54 We're there to be rehabilitated, so let's rehabilitate people.
02:58 Let's do the programs, let's employ more people if that's what needs to be done.
03:02 She says without shifting focus from punishment to healing,
03:06 recidivism rates will continue to soar.
03:09 There should be access to programs for every person in prison.
03:13 We're there to be rehabilitated.
03:16 With prisoner numbers on the rise, those who've lived it say nothing but an overhaul will be enough.
03:22 If we are going to incarcerate someone,
03:26 we have an obligation to deal with them in a certain way
03:29 so that when we let them out again, they're not more damaged than when they came in.
03:34 Using one's lived experience to call for change for all.
03:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]