NT Govt pledges action to ease pressure on prisons

The Northern Territory Government says it will soon be announcing measures to reduce the pressure on Darwin's prison.

Figures in the Department of Justice's annual report shows Berrimah jail had an average of 397 prisoners each day last year.

The facility has a capacity of 400 and the NT Prison Officers Association says at times the jail has had to accommodate as many as 50 extra inmates.

It also says the shortage could have been foreseen because of recent trends in prison numbers.

NT Justice Minister Peter Toyne says he has recognised the need for a larger capacity and has been aware for some time that Darwin's prison is critically short of cells.

Dr Toyne says the Government will soon be announcing new initiatives to combat the jail squeeze.

"There will always be spikes and troughs in the number of prisoners we have, the trend lines very clear that we are increasing in numbers over time," he said.

"So quite clearly the Government's got to come out with some initiatives to either build more prison capacity or find alternatives to jail and that's certainly what we're looking at."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 23 October 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
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