Mr BONSON - 2003-10-08
What plans does the government have for the Don Dale Juvenile Detention facility?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, my thanks to the member for the question. The Northern Territory Correctional Services has three juvenile detention centres operating in the Northern Territory: the Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre, which is the principal facility; the Wildman River Wilderness Work Camp; and the Alice Springs Juvenile Holding Facility.
The Don Dale Centre, adjacent to Berrimah Prison, has a design capacity for 24 detainees of both genders, with a total capacity of 40 detainees. The Wildman River Wilderness Work Camp is used, as needed, as a work program component to the Don Dale Centre, and operates when numbers at Don Dale Centre become high, and when there are suitable inmates to go to the Wildman River facility.
Alice Springs Juvenile Holding Facility operates as a short-term secure holding centre. We are currently developing plans to extend the periods of time that juveniles can be held in Alice Springs - possibly for up to a month at a time, certainly for the remand period.
The Department of Justice has conducted a review of juvenile detention facilities, culminating in a commitment to develop a new medium security open environment facility adjacent to the existing Don Dale Centre. The Don Dale Centre will remain as the principle juvenile facility, and the new area will ensure that Don Dale Centre continues to operate to best practice.
The new open environment area will offer a range of programs currently on offer at the Wildman River Work Camp: horticulture, plant propagation and life skills amongst them. This will offer a greater number of detainees access to a broader range of programs, as many of the detainees are not eligible to be relocated to the camp. The focus will be on training and rehabilitation. In addition, the new area will increase the overall holding capacity of Don Dale Centre and offer future flexibility in juvenile detention accommodation, including separation of the prisoners on the basis of gender, security classification and whether remanded or sentenced. The area will also include a sports field, garden beds, a kitchen, workshop and an education centre, as well as airconditioned accommodation for an extra 16 low to medium security detainees. It is expected work will begin on the new area early next year and be completed by the middle of the year.
Future options are to be considered for the use of the Wildman River Work Camp - and I know the member for Nelson has an interest in this area - as the Correctional Services Rehab and Reintegration Facility, offering work programs such as horticulture to adult prisoners. Limited horticulture activity is currently available in Darwin Correctional Centre and, of course, Alice Springs Correctional Centre has a much wider range of horticultural programs.
At this point, I would like to deal with some comments that were made by the member for Araluen yesterday in the House. She came charging in here and announced with shock and horror, based on some information she had, that all the horticultural programs at Alice Springs had closed down. I can confirm to members that I went to the Alice Springs Gaol some two-and-a-half weeks ago, and I was up to armpits in, not only vegetables, but a very good looking flock of chooks that are producing all the eggs that are used in the prison kitchen. I can assure you that the crying wolf exercise here - the latest of the loose-with-the-detail - has gone, yet again, seriously wrong. I do not think you can believe a thing that the member for Araluen says, either in this House or outside it. I would suggest to her that she should get her facts straight before she starts opening her mouth.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, my thanks to the member for the question. The Northern Territory Correctional Services has three juvenile detention centres operating in the Northern Territory: the Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre, which is the principal facility; the Wildman River Wilderness Work Camp; and the Alice Springs Juvenile Holding Facility.
The Don Dale Centre, adjacent to Berrimah Prison, has a design capacity for 24 detainees of both genders, with a total capacity of 40 detainees. The Wildman River Wilderness Work Camp is used, as needed, as a work program component to the Don Dale Centre, and operates when numbers at Don Dale Centre become high, and when there are suitable inmates to go to the Wildman River facility.
Alice Springs Juvenile Holding Facility operates as a short-term secure holding centre. We are currently developing plans to extend the periods of time that juveniles can be held in Alice Springs - possibly for up to a month at a time, certainly for the remand period.
The Department of Justice has conducted a review of juvenile detention facilities, culminating in a commitment to develop a new medium security open environment facility adjacent to the existing Don Dale Centre. The Don Dale Centre will remain as the principle juvenile facility, and the new area will ensure that Don Dale Centre continues to operate to best practice.
The new open environment area will offer a range of programs currently on offer at the Wildman River Work Camp: horticulture, plant propagation and life skills amongst them. This will offer a greater number of detainees access to a broader range of programs, as many of the detainees are not eligible to be relocated to the camp. The focus will be on training and rehabilitation. In addition, the new area will increase the overall holding capacity of Don Dale Centre and offer future flexibility in juvenile detention accommodation, including separation of the prisoners on the basis of gender, security classification and whether remanded or sentenced. The area will also include a sports field, garden beds, a kitchen, workshop and an education centre, as well as airconditioned accommodation for an extra 16 low to medium security detainees. It is expected work will begin on the new area early next year and be completed by the middle of the year.
Future options are to be considered for the use of the Wildman River Work Camp - and I know the member for Nelson has an interest in this area - as the Correctional Services Rehab and Reintegration Facility, offering work programs such as horticulture to adult prisoners. Limited horticulture activity is currently available in Darwin Correctional Centre and, of course, Alice Springs Correctional Centre has a much wider range of horticultural programs.
At this point, I would like to deal with some comments that were made by the member for Araluen yesterday in the House. She came charging in here and announced with shock and horror, based on some information she had, that all the horticultural programs at Alice Springs had closed down. I can confirm to members that I went to the Alice Springs Gaol some two-and-a-half weeks ago, and I was up to armpits in, not only vegetables, but a very good looking flock of chooks that are producing all the eggs that are used in the prison kitchen. I can assure you that the crying wolf exercise here - the latest of the loose-with-the-detail - has gone, yet again, seriously wrong. I do not think you can believe a thing that the member for Araluen says, either in this House or outside it. I would suggest to her that she should get her facts straight before she starts opening her mouth.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016