"20 people confined in a cell without ventilation, with drinking water placed above a toilet": this is an insight into conditions within an NT watch house.

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Two Aboriginal women held at the Alice Springs watch house for extended periods since late November have detailed shocking accounts of conditions inside the cells.

The details were outlined by the women in affidavits submitted to the Alice Springs Local Court in January.

Their testimonies describe hot, overcrowded and poorly ventilated cells crammed with up to 20 women at a time.

Among the poor conditions, a shortage of mattresses to accommodate them and the only available drinking water came from a tap above a communal toilet, which is often clogged.

The women reported the sink being “often filled with sick and other people’s saliva.”

The women said they had no access to fresh fruit, vegetables, or outdoor exercise, and were forced to pass male detainees’ cells to access showers causing significant cultural distress and shame.

A lack of medical care, including access to medication was also reported.

Conditions labelled human rights violation

The Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory (APO NT) has condemned the appalling conditions inside the Alice Springs watch house.

APO NT Covenor Dr John Paterson has labelled the treatment of those held there – who are predominantly First Nations – as inhumane, discriminatory, and in clear violation of fundamental human rights.

“The inhumane conditions inside the Alice Springs Watch House are a shocking violation of human rights and a clear breach of the NT Government’s commitment to improve justice outcomes for Aboriginal Territorians,” Dr Paterson said.

“Prisons in the Territory are too often sites of significant human rights abuses.”

John Paterson, the chief executive at the Northern Territory Medical Service Alliance.

Dr John Paterson says the NT correctional facilities have been criticised for decades through “countless Royal Commissions” including the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Source: NITV / SBS News

First Nations people account for 88 per cent of incarcerated adults in the Northern Territory and that number has continued to rise.

“First Nations people in Australia are the most imprisoned population in the world, suffering from the compounding effects of intergenerational trauma, high rates of homelessness, domestic violence, and systemic discrimination,” Dr Paterson said.

“A prison system that warehouses the most disadvantaged and vulnerable — then further punishes them with inhumane conditions — does nothing to improve community safety or break the cycle of incarceration.”

NT corrections overcrowded and understaffed

The crisis at Alice Springs Watch House follows the temporary closure of the women’s section of Alice Springs Correctional Facility in October, which resulted in women being transferred to Darwin Correctional Centre or held in Alice Springs watch house alongside men.

It formed part of an “emergency response” to address severe overcrowding across NT prisons and youth detention facilities.

Since the Country Liberal Party swept to power in August – on a platform of ‘tough on crime’ policies – prisoner numbers in the Northern Territory have surged to a record high.

Rocket Bretherton is the NT Coodinator for the Justice Reform Initiative — an alliance of people who share long-standing professional experience, lived experience, or expert knowledge of the justice system.

Rocket Bretherton, Justice Reform Initiative NT Coordinator

Rocket Bretherton has lived experience in the NT justice system and has worked for the past six years advocating to raise awareness of the system’s failings.

“What we are doing at the moment is only setting people up to fail,” the Noongar woman told NITV News.

“You can’t keep treating people like animals and expect them to come out of prison reformed.”

“Low risk people could be serving their sentences out in the community on a corrections order… there are other options,” Ms Bretherton said.

What is the NT Government doing?

The NT Government has announced an update on its plans to address overcrowding and under-staffing at corrections facilities across the Territory

This week the C-L-P are set to introduce a “bill on urgency” to allow private prison guards and interstate officers into Territory corrections facilities to fill gaps in staffing.

Meanwhile, a 96-bed modular block will soon open at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre, while the recently reopened Berrimah prison is set to add 200 beds to the system by March.

“These reforms are necessary to manage rising prisoner numbers and ensure the continued safety of Corrections staff and the wider community,” Minister for Corrections Gerard Maley said.

“Our corrections system is under immense pressure due to a sustained increase in prisoner numbers.”

“Since the August election, there has been increase of more than 500 prisoners, and we are taking action to ensure the corrections system remains functional, effective, and safe,” Mr Maley said.

NT Independent MP Justine Davis has criticised the NT Government’s push to bring in “unqualified corrections officers.”

“The CLP Government’s so-called ‘Corrections Master Plan’ is nothing more than a smoke-and-mirrors approach to a prison system in crisis,” the member for Johnston said.

“Instead of real solutions, the Government is planning to rush through legislation that will allow untrained ‘probationary’ corrections officers to work in our prisons, putting lives at risk and paving the way for privatisation.”

NT Independent MP Justine Davis said the CLP Government’s plan to force the Bill through on urgency is an undemocratic approach to policy making that undermines the trust of Territorians. Source: supplied.

Calls to consult with Indigenous leaders

More than 60 per cent of people who leave prison in the NT return with a new sentence within two years — the highest proportion in Australia — while around 70 per cent of people in NT prisons are on remand.

Dr John Paterson is calling on the Northern Territory Government to take immediate action to improve watch house conditions and to meet urgently with First Nations-led organisations and legal services to develop a plan for transitioning individuals from prison to community-based rehabilitation programs.

“Regardless of your political views on justice, we must all draw the line at allowing this degradation of humanity, of health and of culture, to exist within our community,” Dr Paterson said.

“The Government has an obligation to ensure that those incarcerated are treated with dignity and have access to essential services, healthcare, and culturally appropriate rehabilitation to break cycles of disadvantage and imprisonment,” Dr Paterson said.