15-07-2025
NT police union raises alarm over death in custody risk in watch houses
The Northern Territory's police union is warning a death or serious incident in custody is only a matter of time under dangerous conditions inside police watch houses.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family.
Their caution comes amid national attention on Aboriginal deaths in custody, after the NT coroner last week delivered her inquest findings into the 2019 police shooting of Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu.
It also follows the recent deaths in custody of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi White in Alice Springs and a senior Kardu Rak Kirnmu elder at Royal Darwin Hospital.
In a statement, the NT Police Association (NTPA) said 92 detainees were kept in the Palmerston police watch house on Monday, including 76 overflow corrections prisoners.
"This is officially out of control," NTPA president Nathan Finn said in a statement.
The growing pressure on police comes just four months after the NT government promised to stop housing corrections prisoners at watch houses in Palmerston and Alice Springs.
Corrections Minister Gerard Maley told parliament on March 18 that all prisoners had been moved out of the watch houses and into prisons in Holtze and Berrimah.
Mr Finn told the ABC he was "extremely concerned" by another spike in corrections prisoners held inside watch houses.
"It's going to end up in a situation where a police officer is hurt, or an inmate in that facility is hurt or killed," he said.
"We've got no contingencies if someone gets violent.
"If someone has a mental health episode inside that facility, it's further placing our staff at unacceptable risk."
Former detainee Willis John Carlow, who was released on Tuesday after 10 days in the Palmerston watch house, said the conditions were "horrible".
"We had to s**t in front of everyone and there was no space, just 10 other people — 16 other people — in one space," he said.
"You've got to eat while they're taking a s**t so it was pretty bad."
Another former detainee, who was also released on Tuesday but wished to remain anonymous, said the women's cells were stained with period blood.
"We're all in this room with someone else's period blood all over the sheets and it's just pushed into a pile against the wall."
She said the female inmates had created a barricade of mattresses around the cell's toilet for privacy from male correctional officers walking past.
"You've got one blocked toilet and then one toilet that barely works and we're supposed to be drinking water from bubblers on top of the toilet," she said.
"There was a pregnant woman in there who had stomach pains … and for two weeks in a row was asking to see medical [staff]."
The NT's prison population has soared in recent months, partly driven by the NT government's introduction of tougher bail laws.
Data from the NT corrections department shows 2,847 prisoners were being held at correctional facilities on Tuesday, including 1,492 at Darwin Correctional Centre.
About half of those prisoners are people on remand who have not yet been sentenced or found guilty.
The overflow of prisoners is playing out in the courts.
More than 185 court matters were listed between just two sitting judges at Darwin Local Court on Tuesday, giving judges about three minutes on average to process each matter.
Mr Finn said the NT government had failed to support its "tough-on-crime" agenda with appropriate infrastructure to cope with rising prisoner numbers.
Mr Finn also claimed overcrowding inside watch houses was preventing police officers from making arrests.
"We've heard from a number of members coming through that limitations in watch house space has led to arrests not being made," he said.
NT Police and Mr Maley have been contacted for comment.
A department spokesperson said correctional staff have not operated out of the Palmerston police watch house since mid-March.
