NT prison work camp proposed for rural university research station near Katherine
Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said if the negotiations are successful, the work camp could be open at the rural university location later this year.
Mr Maley said the plan was for the facility to be used for rehabilitation programs.
Gerard Maley says there's funding in the upcoming NT budget dedicated to getting the work camp up and running.
(
ABC News: James Elton
)
"Some of those boot camp and work camp prisoners will be able to go … learn some everyday skills that territorians have to make a better life,"
he said.
The work camp was promised by the Country Liberal Party (CLP) prior to the 2024 NT election, but no location had been publicly identified until today.
Photo shows
Three men address the media.
The NT government has revealed plans to permanently transfer children from Alice Springs youth detention to Darwin as part of an "emergency response" aimed at rolling out a thousand new prison beds over the next four years.
Mr Maley said the government "had a proposal with CDU now about what that will look like".
"To be able to house low and open restricted prisoners there, and offer that Sentenced to a Skill program, using the CDU research farm as a facility to offer that program," he said.
When asked if Katherine residents had been consulted over the plan, Mr Maley said the plan "is going to be publicised, it has been out there in the community".
The minister said there was money in the upcoming NT budget to "get that up and running".
CDU Vice-Chancellor and President Scott Bowman said the university was "proud of the work we currently do with the Department of Corrections, delivering education and training in all Northern Territory facilities".
"We have been approached about this possibility," he said.
Record budget for prison operations
The government also flagged a record $495 million spend on the NT's overloaded corrections system in its May 13 budget, most of which would be used for operational purposes.
The territory continues to see record numbers of people being incarcerated, with
Alecia Brimson says the attrition rate in the NT's corrections industry was still high.
(
ABC News: Jayden O'Neill
)
Acting Corrections Commissioner Alecia Brimson said the prison population was currently at 2,822.
"There's no question that that number places strain on the organisation, right across all of our centres," she said.
Mr Maley said the proposed new work camp would alleviate the strain "because we'd be able to spread the prison population not only in Holtze [prison] in Darwin and in Alice Springs, but into Katherine".
In the past 12 months, the Northern Territory has recruited 157 correctional officers, however 59 have left.
(
ABC News: Grace Atta
)
Despite the workforce strain, Ms Brimson said they believed an ongoing recruitment push would allow them to properly staff the new work camp.
However, she also said the attrition rate in the sector was huge: in the past 12 months, 157 correctional officers have been recruited but 59 have left — 30 of whom were from Alice Springs.
Photo shows
Group
Around 50 prison officers have marched to parliament to protest against the NT government's plan to hire private contractors within its corrections system.
United Workers Union NT secretary Erina Early said in a statement that a Katherine work camp would be welcomed by officers but that many "are in doubt how the work camp will be staffed".
"Officers are being kept on the dark about their future employment and direction of corrections,"
she said.
"Officers continue to put their lives at risk and are expected to work unsafe hours with significantly overcrowded facilities all for a Department who does not value them or respect [what] they are exposed to every day."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
2 days ago
- The Advertiser
Man to plead guilty to killing US university students
Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, multiple media outlets are reporting. The news was delivered to families of the victims in a letter from prosecutors, according to ABC News. Kohberger, 30, is accused in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. Goncalves' family expressed outrage in a Facebook post: "We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected." Kohberger, then a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene. In a court filing, his lawyers said Kohberger was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed. The killings shook the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn't had a homicide in about five years. The trial, which was scheduled to begin in August, was moved from rural northern Idaho to Boise after the defence expressed concerns that Kohberger couldn't get a fair trial in the county where the killings occurred. In Idaho, judges may reject plea agreements, though such moves are rare. If a judge rejects a plea agreement, the defendant is allowed to withdraw the guilty plea. Earlier on Monday, a Pennsylvania judge had ordered that three people whose testimony was requested by defence lawyers would have to travel to Idaho to appear at Kohberger's trial. The defence subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger's and a third man whose significance was not explained. A gag order has largely kept lawyers, investigators and others from speaking publicly about the investigation or trial. Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, multiple media outlets are reporting. The news was delivered to families of the victims in a letter from prosecutors, according to ABC News. Kohberger, 30, is accused in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. Goncalves' family expressed outrage in a Facebook post: "We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected." Kohberger, then a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene. In a court filing, his lawyers said Kohberger was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed. The killings shook the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn't had a homicide in about five years. The trial, which was scheduled to begin in August, was moved from rural northern Idaho to Boise after the defence expressed concerns that Kohberger couldn't get a fair trial in the county where the killings occurred. In Idaho, judges may reject plea agreements, though such moves are rare. If a judge rejects a plea agreement, the defendant is allowed to withdraw the guilty plea. Earlier on Monday, a Pennsylvania judge had ordered that three people whose testimony was requested by defence lawyers would have to travel to Idaho to appear at Kohberger's trial. The defence subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger's and a third man whose significance was not explained. A gag order has largely kept lawyers, investigators and others from speaking publicly about the investigation or trial. Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, multiple media outlets are reporting. The news was delivered to families of the victims in a letter from prosecutors, according to ABC News. Kohberger, 30, is accused in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. Goncalves' family expressed outrage in a Facebook post: "We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected." Kohberger, then a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene. In a court filing, his lawyers said Kohberger was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed. The killings shook the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn't had a homicide in about five years. The trial, which was scheduled to begin in August, was moved from rural northern Idaho to Boise after the defence expressed concerns that Kohberger couldn't get a fair trial in the county where the killings occurred. In Idaho, judges may reject plea agreements, though such moves are rare. If a judge rejects a plea agreement, the defendant is allowed to withdraw the guilty plea. Earlier on Monday, a Pennsylvania judge had ordered that three people whose testimony was requested by defence lawyers would have to travel to Idaho to appear at Kohberger's trial. The defence subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger's and a third man whose significance was not explained. A gag order has largely kept lawyers, investigators and others from speaking publicly about the investigation or trial. Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, multiple media outlets are reporting. The news was delivered to families of the victims in a letter from prosecutors, according to ABC News. Kohberger, 30, is accused in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. Goncalves' family expressed outrage in a Facebook post: "We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected." Kohberger, then a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene. In a court filing, his lawyers said Kohberger was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed. The killings shook the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn't had a homicide in about five years. The trial, which was scheduled to begin in August, was moved from rural northern Idaho to Boise after the defence expressed concerns that Kohberger couldn't get a fair trial in the county where the killings occurred. In Idaho, judges may reject plea agreements, though such moves are rare. If a judge rejects a plea agreement, the defendant is allowed to withdraw the guilty plea. Earlier on Monday, a Pennsylvania judge had ordered that three people whose testimony was requested by defence lawyers would have to travel to Idaho to appear at Kohberger's trial. The defence subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger's and a third man whose significance was not explained. A gag order has largely kept lawyers, investigators and others from speaking publicly about the investigation or trial.
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
Man to plead guilty to killing US university students
Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, multiple media outlets are reporting. The news was delivered to families of the victims in a letter from prosecutors, according to ABC News. Kohberger, 30, is accused in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times. Goncalves' family expressed outrage in a Facebook post: "We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected." Kohberger, then a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene. In a court filing, his lawyers said Kohberger was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed. The killings shook the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn't had a homicide in about five years. The trial, which was scheduled to begin in August, was moved from rural northern Idaho to Boise after the defence expressed concerns that Kohberger couldn't get a fair trial in the county where the killings occurred. In Idaho, judges may reject plea agreements, though such moves are rare. If a judge rejects a plea agreement, the defendant is allowed to withdraw the guilty plea. Earlier on Monday, a Pennsylvania judge had ordered that three people whose testimony was requested by defence lawyers would have to travel to Idaho to appear at Kohberger's trial. The defence subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger's and a third man whose significance was not explained. A gag order has largely kept lawyers, investigators and others from speaking publicly about the investigation or trial.
The Age
3 days ago
- The Age
Police taking sniper fire in US after firefighters attacked, two killed, in Idaho
Two firefighters are dead after they were shot at while responding to a fire in a wooded area of Idaho, north-west United States, and law enforcement officers are under sniper fire while hunting for the killer, the local sheriff said. It was not immediately clear if there was one gunman or more, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said, adding that civilians may have been struck in the incident unfolding in a nature area near the city of Coeur d'Alene. 'We are prepared to neutralise this suspect who is currently actively shooting at public safety personnel,' Norris said. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been briefed on the shooting, ABC News reported. Firefighters received the first call of a fire about 1.21pm on Sunday (5.21am Monday AEST), Norris said, and about 40 minutes later, reports emerged that they were being shot at. Kootenai County Sheriff's Lieutenant Jeff Howard told ABC News that firefighters were responding to a small brush fire that broke out in the Canfield Mountain nature area on the eastern side of Coeur d'Alene when they came under gunfire from somebody in a nearby wooded area. Howard said that officials were investigating whether the fire was deliberately set. Governor Brad Little said 'multiple' firefighters were attacked. 'This is a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters,' Little said aid on the social platform X. 'I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more.' An alert by the Kootenai County Emergency Management Office asked people to avoid the area around Canfield Mountain Trailhead and Nettleton Gulch Road, 6.5 kilometres north of downtown Coeur d'Alene. The fire was still burning.
