Central Australian community leaders are increasingly alarmed over plans to move young offenders from Alice Springs to the newly opened Darwin youth prison. The "emergency" measures are being introduced to address prison overcrowding, but critics say it will not only be costly but could further traumatise disadvantaged communities.
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00:00Stolen Generation survivor and Arundel community leader, William Tillmouth, says transporting
00:08children 1,500 kilometres from home is a repeat of past injustices.
00:13Instead of getting in and supporting the families, they're taking them away.
00:18And as I said earlier, it's remnants of the stolen generation and the assimilation process.
00:25The anti-government announced last month it would transfer young people from a detention
00:29centre in Alice Springs to the new Darwin Youth Prison, part of a reshuffle to relieve
00:35record levels of overcrowding across the territory's prison system.
00:40Youth advocates say it'll only worsen the cycle of crime.
00:44You're putting these kids in places where they're going to learn how to steal better
00:49and commit bigger crimes.
00:51You're not helping them.
00:53You're actually helping them be a better criminal, if anything.
00:56The jails will be full because of it.
00:59There will be a lot of angry kids and they grow up to be angry adults.
01:03The government should actually support those families in those remote communities, in those
01:08town camps, the way they should have done years ago.
01:12The territory's peak Aboriginal Medical Alliance is also calling for a halt to the relocation,
01:18saying it will separate young people from their communities and essential support and
01:23cause them further harm.
01:25In a statement, the Northern Territory Government defended the plan, saying it will create additional
01:30beds for adults in prison and allow women to be detained in separate prisons to men.