The Northern Territory Corrections Commissioner says prisons are under “unprecedented” pressure. 

The NT’s correction system is “full to the brim” with prisoners, according to Independent MLA Robyn Lambley, with Alice Springs and Darwin prisons operating above design capacity. 

The number of prisoners in NT facilities was up to a record level of 2,000 inmates in November, but has dropped slightly to 1,964 prisoners.

Still, “NT Correctional Services [are] facing unprecedented pressures due to rising prisoner numbers”, according to Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley.

With reports that prisons are now placing inmates on mattresses on the floor to make more space, advocates say the mental health and safety of staff and prisoners are now at risk. 

“There is a major problem that this government has created for itself, and it is facing, and that is that there is no room at the inn,” Ms Lambley said in parliament last week.

“They cannot jail any more people even if they tried because there is literally no room at all.”

“[Alice Springs Correctional Centre is] so critically and chronically understaffed that they cannot allow the prisoners to engage in too much activity because they just do not have the ability to properly supervise them.”

North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency's acting chief executive Mark Munnich says the standard practice of shuffling prisoners to slightly less full sites will not help. 

“We have been barrelling towards crisis point for a long time … [and we] have been warning governments for the past couple of decades,” Mr Munnich said.

“Without legislative reform, numbers will continue to grow, and human rights abuse will continue to occur.”

The NT’s Department of Attorney-General and Justice says it is running risk and safety assessments at its prisons. 

Meanwhile, the NT Ombudsman has urged the government to install aircon at the Alice Springs prison, as temperatures top 40℃. 

A report by the ombudsman warns inmates in Alice Springs face “notoriously challenging conditions in the summer months, with extensive runs of days where the temperature exceeds 40 degrees, and indeed 42 degrees”.

“The reality of climate change means that this issue will only get worse and needs to be effectively addressed,” the ombudsman said. 

The NT Corrections Commissioner says there are no plans to install cooling systems at either the Alice Springs or Darwin Correctional Centres, due to “extreme cost implications”.