Police watch houses are filled and officers have been pushed to the brink in Australia’s Northern Territory. The Corrections office has taken over the Palmerston watch house to deal with the ever-increasing influx of prisoners. It comes as the territory's prisons once again hit capacity, with thirty people incarcerated, since New Year's Day alone.
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00:00The tour of a Darwin cell, soon to accommodate the ever-growing number of those arrested
00:08in the territory.
00:09We're seeing more people being arrested and reminded, which means safer streets.
00:14One week into the new year and prisons have hit a new population record.
00:19As of today I think it's just over 2,600 and yes we are seeing capacity.
00:23I think each week the numbers go up.
00:26Prison numbers are expected to keep rising as a suite of new bail and weapons reforms
00:31named Declan's Law, after slain bottle shop worker Declan Lavity, come into force today.
00:38That'll mean more people incarcerated, more people in custody and that's going to place
00:41a huge strain going forward.
00:43They predict that it's going to range between 80 to up to 200 prisoners extra in custody.
00:48The influx of prisoners has been putting immense pressure on police watch houses, which the
00:53association says have hit capacity in Darwin, Alice Springs and Catherine.
00:59We're at a crisis situation here where our members are being limited, the number of people
01:03actually put in our facility due to the rising numbers of corrections prisoners in our police
01:07facilities.
01:08To alleviate some of that pressure.
01:11The watch house at Palmerston station will be handed over to corrections for the foreseeable
01:15future to help with the demand pressures as Declan's Law comes online.
01:20And these cells at the police headquarters in Darwin will be used for police arrests.
01:26So this facility is fit for purpose, there's eight cells behind me, it can house a number
01:32of prisoners.
01:33Obviously this will be opened up and operational this week in light of increasing prison numbers.
01:38Other prisoners are also on the move as part of the government's prison plan.
01:42The corrections minister confirming youth detainees are expected to be shifted from
01:47Alice Springs to Darwin over the next month.