Over the past week, the NT's prison system has risen by dozens of people with the NT government unapologetic for the crackdown on crime. The surge in prisoner numbers and the crush put on prison staff has meant rehabilitation programs have been sidelined.
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00:00A new year approaches with no end in sight for the NT's prison population crisis, as
00:08jails hit an all-time high and still rising.
00:11We are in very high pressure and the numbers are through the roof and we are working hard
00:16to come up with solutions.
00:17All of our facilities are at maximum capacity and watch houses are full.
00:22In just over two months, 228 more people were jailed, 84 locked up in the five days since
00:28Christmas.
00:29Today's total prison population is the highest it's ever been, it's 2,598 and that's a significantly
00:37high number for the Northern Territory.
00:3924 prisoners yet to be sentenced were moved from Alice Springs to Darwin on Friday in
00:45a bid to free up beds in police watch houses, only for them to be filled again over the
00:50weekend.
00:51A short fall in prison officers starting to bite with education and treatment programs
00:56the first casualties.
00:57Everything gives eventually and for us that's things like education programs, if we can't
01:02deliver them at certain times of the day or week it might be issues around the right approach
01:08to treatment programs over time.
01:10The government's so-called prison master plan begins here at what used to be the Dondale
01:15Youth Detention Centre.
01:17It's now back to housing adult men with 106 recently moved into two blocks.
01:23With the government promising 3,000 new prison beds by 2028, the year of the next election,
01:29it has a New Year's message for those found breaking the law.
01:32If you order to go to a detention centre there will be a spot for you because keeping the
01:37community safe is our number one priority and I make no apologies for that because the
01:41community is unsafe right across the Northern Territory and we're elected on a clear mandate
01:45to fix that.
01:46Despite the holiday period there's no moment of rest for those on the prison's front line.
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