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Speaker 1: So we know a boost is on the way for

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territories corrections workforce, with sixty nine recruits currently

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Speaker 1: in training. Five will graduate this Friday at Alis Springs.

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Speaker 1: Thirty one as I understand it, are going to complete

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Speaker 1: their course in Darwin the following week. Then we've got

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Speaker 1: ten private contracts well contractors also started working at the

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Speaker 1: Darwin Local Court this week. Another ten G four's staff.

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Speaker 1: They're going to start those medical escorts as of next week.

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Speaker 1: That's my understanding. But joining me in the studio to

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Speaker 1: tell us a little bit more is the Corrections Commissioner

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Speaker 1: Matthew Varley. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Commissioner, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now when will talk us through I guess those recruits

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Speaker 1: first off and where they are and what they're doing,

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Speaker 1: and then when the additional thirty three are going to

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Speaker 1: get underway.

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Speaker 2: Well, the thirty three are underway now, so we've got

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Speaker 2: his two courses running side by side. The thirty three

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Speaker 2: new trainee correction ofsters in Darwen started last Monday, and

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Speaker 2: our thirty one course, which is the course before that,

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Speaker 2: is due to graduate next Friday, so we're able to

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Speaker 2: back to back them, which is a huge effort on

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Speaker 2: the training staff's part. But we've got the last cohorter

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Speaker 2: thirty one in what we call shadowing or workplace familiarization

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Speaker 2: at the moment. And then of course, as you said,

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Speaker 2: we've got five graduating in Alice Springs tomorrow. I'm heading

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Speaker 2: down there for that, and then we've got thirty one

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Speaker 2: graduating next Friday. So all in all, I think there's

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Speaker 2: about sixty nine odd recruits in training across the territory

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Speaker 2: Corrections department at the moment.

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Speaker 1: How big a boost is that going to be for

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Speaker 1: you when you look at your staffing numbers and when

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Speaker 1: you look at the you know, the always growing prisoner numbers.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I mean it's a great boost. And we've

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Speaker 2: always said we needed to keep recruiting hard, and we are,

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Speaker 2: and I know we've recruited about one hundred and thirty

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Speaker 2: one hundred and forty odd new offices in the last

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Speaker 2: sort of eight nine months. Of course, we have officers

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Speaker 2: leave us as well, and you know, we've had about

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Speaker 2: forty seven or so offices across the territory leave us

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Speaker 2: this financial year. They move on to their other jobs

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Speaker 2: and careers. So of course we've got natural attrition that

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Speaker 2: we have to keep up with, but it's a big

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Speaker 2: boost and it helps us to continue to grow because remember, Katie,

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Speaker 2: we're now operating Berrama Correctional Center. That's another site we've

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Speaker 2: got to manage and facilitate. And of course we're still

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Speaker 2: suffering shortages across our facilities as we grow with those

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Speaker 2: extra prisoner numbers. But we're hoping that as the months

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Speaker 2: continue on through this year, as part of that planning,

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Speaker 2: that we'll see things stabilize.

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Speaker 1: And how are those G four SS staff going since

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Speaker 1: coming in and I understand more of them will be

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Speaker 1: getting underway next week.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So the G four S program is underway. The

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Speaker 2: first ten correctional sorry, first ten special correctional offices were

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Speaker 2: appointed from G four S last Friday and they started

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Speaker 2: in the courts on Monday. They completed a one week

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Speaker 2: orientation program here in the NT so we've been working

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Speaker 2: really hard to get that up and running. And the

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Speaker 2: second group of ten will arrive in Darwin next week

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Speaker 2: to commence that orientation work and then they'll be supplementing

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Speaker 2: courts and also starting to help us move prisoners around Darwin.

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Speaker 2: So that'll be twenty by Easter time and then we'll

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Speaker 2: continue to scale up from there.

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Speaker 1: And so far fairly smooth with the escorts around with

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Speaker 1: the court.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, we you know, there's always little bumps in

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Speaker 2: the road, and we've had a few teething problems as

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Speaker 2: all of the systems and the staff work their way through,

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Speaker 2: but that's to be expected. And you know, my advice

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Speaker 2: from the courts and from our senior folk is that

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Speaker 2: things have been going really well.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: I'm really grateful because the team have worked hard to

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Speaker 2: get this up and running, and we've had great assistance

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Speaker 2: from our offices at the local court who have been

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Speaker 2: helping to prepare for the orientation and familiarization of G fours.

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Speaker 2: We've also had a few of our more senior practitioners

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Speaker 2: down at the court, our offices who have been there

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Speaker 2: for a while, helping in that transition phase. And once

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Speaker 2: that handover is complete, I'll move back into.

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Speaker 1: Other jubly So ten. Obviously at the court, you're going

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Speaker 1: to have another team coming online in terms of those

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Speaker 1: medical escorts. Will that be it then or are you

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Speaker 1: planning on more G four s staff?

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Speaker 2: No, no, it's not it. And we've always said that

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Speaker 2: the first tranch of twenty was the start and obviously

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Speaker 2: embed that, get that working, and then I'll work with

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Speaker 2: G four S to continue to map out those next

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Speaker 2: purchase orders of services. So obviously we've always said that

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Speaker 2: we'll move soon into hospital escorts, and we'll look at

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Speaker 2: what else we need to add on to that list

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Speaker 2: in terms of movements, because where we want to get

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Speaker 2: to is a twenty four to seven service here in Darwin,

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Speaker 2: and then of course we'll expand to Alice Springs and

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Speaker 2: other location.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So in terms of the staffing numbers, so

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Speaker 1: I know when you joined us not too long ago,

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Speaker 1: a few weeks ago, you told us about lockdowns having

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Speaker 1: to occur. I think it was one weekend where there

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Speaker 1: was quite an extensive lockdown because there just wasn't enough staff.

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Speaker 1: Are we now in a situation where that is no

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Speaker 1: longer having to have.

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Speaker 2: No it ebbs and flows? Katie? You know last Saturday

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Speaker 2: was a really difficult day for us. Again and again

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Speaker 2: it's a cycle of staffing availability, rosters, days off and

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Speaker 2: those sorts of things. Plus, as I said, we're operating Berrima,

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Speaker 2: so that stretches our staffing capacity while we wait for

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Speaker 2: these new recruits to come on board. So look We're

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Speaker 2: not out of the woods yet, I guess is my

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Speaker 2: answer to your question. There's still a long way to go,

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Speaker 2: and we know that those record prisoner numbers have placed

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Speaker 2: stretch on us.

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Speaker 1: How where are they at at the moment? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Look, today we're about twenty seven forty seven in total

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Speaker 2: corrections custody, and then I think there's still about sixty

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Speaker 2: or seventy in police watchhouses that are due to come

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Speaker 2: to us as soon as we can take them. So

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Speaker 2: you know, we're working pretty closely with police on a

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Speaker 2: daily basis to manage that pressure. The new inflow always

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Speaker 2: comes and it fluctuates, and.

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Speaker 1: So in terms of that new infrastructure as well, how

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Speaker 1: are things tracking along with those prisoner numbers that we've

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Speaker 1: currently got.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, the first thing to remind our listeners of

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Speaker 2: or your listeners of, is Behramer Correctional Center is fully

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Speaker 2: operational at three hundred and sixteen male prisoners. We have

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Speaker 2: another series of blocks due to come online in I'm

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Speaker 2: going to say mid April. By mid April, it'll be

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Speaker 2: about four hundred and ten. I think we'll get to remember,

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Speaker 2: Katie that that's about double what we said we would

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Speaker 2: do when we first wrote the plan back in October,

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Speaker 2: but we've had to make that adjustment to renovate extra

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Speaker 2: blocks and we'll get to about four hundred and ten.

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Speaker 2: The operational modular block in Alice Springs is fully online now, yep.

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Speaker 2: Our next phase of the plan is to repurpose the

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Speaker 2: other Springs Youth facility for women and we expect those

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Speaker 2: works and upgrades to manage things like fire system and

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Speaker 2: ventilation systems for extra people. Hopefully we'll have that online

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Speaker 2: by the end of April. Okay, there's another forty odd

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Speaker 2: beds for women, and we'll get women into there, and

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Speaker 2: that creates more beds in the male prison.

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Speaker 1: Now. One of the other big questions has obviously been

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Speaker 1: around those prisoner programs. I know some of them have recommenced,

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Speaker 1: like the mowing for pensioners that is happening on the weekends.

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Speaker 1: Is that correct.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, we know that the pensioners and the community

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Speaker 2: has spoken loudly about this, and we understand how important

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Speaker 2: that service is to the community. Obviously, we had to

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Speaker 2: redirect those officers who supervise those prisoner work crews into

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Speaker 2: operational duties in the prison, and that's still the case, Katie,

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Speaker 2: But I'm really happy to say that some of our

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Speaker 2: officers have actually stepped up and are doing overtime shifts

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Speaker 2: on Sundays and Sundays to get those prisoner work crews

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Speaker 2: out and about. Now. Good on them, and we're really grateful.

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Speaker 2: You know, we're prioritizing the work as best we can,

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Speaker 2: but as soon as we can, we'll switch those crews

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Speaker 2: back on full time.

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Speaker 1: And now what about when it comes to some of

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Speaker 1: those behavior change programs programs in the domestic violence space,

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Speaker 1: that kind of thing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look again, still we're not at best capacity. We're

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Speaker 2: not at full capacity because of course the prison is

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Speaker 2: semi lockdown and we've been having trouble getting those courses organized.

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Speaker 2: But our staff are doing the best they can in

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Speaker 2: the circumstances. And I think in the last six months, Katie,

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Speaker 2: there's been about one hundred and forty four odd people

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Speaker 2: go through the Family Violence program, and then there's another

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Speaker 2: nine or ten that have gone through what we call

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Speaker 2: our RAGE program, that's the six month intensive, high needs,

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Speaker 2: high complexity psychological treatment program. Around DV, we're still running

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Speaker 2: things like the Addictive Behaviors Program, our alcohol and drugs programs.

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Speaker 2: So although the numbers are down. I want people to

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Speaker 2: be assured that we're still delivering where we can and

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Speaker 2: our clinicians do the best they can to prioritize those

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Speaker 2: most in need.

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Speaker 1: I mean, when do you reckon it's going to amp

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Speaker 1: up to its full capacity.

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Speaker 2: Look, I guess I don't want to. I don't want

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Speaker 2: to overpromise and underdeliver. But the issue is, you know,

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Speaker 2: as we bring more staff online, our clinicians are keen

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Speaker 2: to get into the prisons and get these courses running.

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Speaker 2: As we stabilize Behmart, we're able to move through and

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Speaker 2: look at well, can we put cohorts in that prison

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Speaker 2: who are able to do intensive programs Because they're in

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Speaker 2: a smaller facility, they're more accessible. So we expect to

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Speaker 2: stabilize that over the weeks ahead. And of course we're

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Speaker 2: also still working on upscaling and reopening our industries and

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Speaker 2: employment programs. That's a big piece of work that we're

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Speaker 2: toiling on behind the scenes, and I expect to have

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Speaker 2: more announcements on that soon. And Katie, the other thing

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Speaker 2: I wanted to flag with you, which is sort of

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Speaker 2: a new program that we've developed behind the scenes, and

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Speaker 2: we know that most prisoners well, I should say a

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Speaker 2: lot of prisoners have issues around their health and their

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Speaker 2: well being, and of course we know some prisoners suffer

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Speaker 2: from disabilities. So this year we've started up a program

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Speaker 2: of specialized support where our staff are able to case

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Speaker 2: assess prisoners for eligibility to the NDI scheme. Now, the

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Speaker 2: idea there is to find those prisoners who might not

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Speaker 2: otherwise access their entitlements under the Commonwealth NDS and get

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Speaker 2: them into support when they get out of prison. The aim,

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Speaker 2: of course, not to get them to get the right

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Speaker 2: supports that don't come back to prison, you know. So

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Speaker 2: so far, and we've only had this program operating for

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Speaker 2: a couple of months, we've had forty four people referred

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Speaker 2: to the NDIS team by that group of our staff,

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Speaker 2: So you know there's people that are undergoing NDIS assessments

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Speaker 2: now and we've got a couple of new team members

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Speaker 2: and a psychologists that have doing those assessments. And the

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Speaker 2: idea being, as I said, we can get people onto

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Speaker 2: the NDIS scheme and get them out of jail.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: That's a new initiative and we've learned that from other states.

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Speaker 1: Okay, and do you think, like what kind of impact.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that's going to have. What kind of

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Speaker 1: positive impact do you think that's going to have well

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Speaker 1: for the broader community, not just you know, not just

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Speaker 1: the prisoners, because obviously that'll be positive for them, but

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Speaker 1: also for the broader community.

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Speaker 2: Well, what we've seen and we learned from South Australia

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Speaker 2: in particular, Katie, they've been operating a similar NDIS scheme

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Speaker 2: in their action system I think for about two years now,

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Speaker 2: and I think they've had success. And I'm going to

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Speaker 2: test my memory here, but I think it was about

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Speaker 2: seven hundred people they've been able to get onto various

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Speaker 2: levels of NDIS support and from that they saw a

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Speaker 2: reduction in that rate of return to prison. Because once

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Speaker 2: people have stable healthcare, stable housing, stable case management in

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Speaker 2: the community, it makes some of their offending behaviors less

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Speaker 2: likely to recur. And so that's the data we've looked

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Speaker 2: at from South Australia and that's what we're trying to

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Speaker 2: experiment with and roll out here.

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Speaker 1: Well. Look, I hope so, I hope it works, and

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Speaker 1: I think that is the hope for so many Territorians.

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Speaker 1: We see such a high level of offending across the

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Speaker 1: Northern territory. We've got record high prisoner numbers. We want

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Speaker 1: to try to, you know, to make people better people,

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Speaker 1: right when they get out of jail or when they

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Speaker 1: get out of time in custody or doing a program.

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Speaker 1: You want them to be better people.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's right. You know, we've expanded the infrastructure master

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Speaker 2: Plan to deliver capacity. We know community safety is in

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Speaker 2: and our response to that is, and the government's been

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Speaker 2: quite clear about this, is if you commit a crime

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Speaker 2: and you come to jail, then we we'll accommodate you.

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Speaker 2: But you know, we want to get that recidivism rate down.

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Speaker 2: We want to get that return to custody rate down

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Speaker 2: so that when people go back out to the community.

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Speaker 2: Corrections is supposed to be about correcting behavior. We don't

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Speaker 2: want to see that revolving door keep cycling.

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Speaker 1: Hey, just before I let you go, where are things

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Speaker 1: that with youth program so they underway as well inside

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Speaker 1: the youth justice or the youth corrections facility. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and there's been a so the short answer that

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Speaker 2: is yes. And Holts Youth Detention Center, I think we've

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Speaker 2: got about thirty odd kids in there today and I

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Speaker 2: think three or four in our springs they all go

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Speaker 2: to school. There's activities and programs running. I also see

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Speaker 2: some of the community engagement work and offsite training and

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Speaker 2: skills and community service that they're doing. So yes, it's

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Speaker 2: a smaller operation, but it's quite a it's quite an

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Speaker 2: intensive operation around those you know, those high risk, high

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Speaker 2: harm kids that we're working to rehabilitate.

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Speaker 1: Well Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley, we are going to have

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Speaker 1: to leave it. They're always good to speak with you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, all the best.

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Speaker 1: Thank you