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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line right now is Sky News

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Speaker 1: Darwin bureau chief Matt Cunningham. Good morning to you, Matt.

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Speaker 1: Akat Matt an exclusive that he is running on Sky

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Speaker 1: News today. Information that you've obtained apparently a fire at

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Speaker 1: the Darwin Correctional Center last week, resulting in prisoners being

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Speaker 1: rushed to hospital for further treatment after they were found

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Speaker 1: unconscious in their cells. Tell us more.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a pretty serious incident, Katie. It happened at

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Speaker 2: about nine o'clock last Thursday night. Now, according to my sources,

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Speaker 2: there were two inmates in their cell. A fire started somehow,

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Speaker 2: and there were some delay in offices being able to

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Speaker 2: get there because of a fault in the internal system

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Speaker 2: there at the prison. But eventually they were alerted to

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Speaker 2: that fire and they got there and dragged those prisoners

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Speaker 2: out of their cell. Those two prisoners had to be

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Speaker 2: taken to the Palmestan Regional Hospital. According to my sources,

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Speaker 2: the prisoners were actually unconscious for a period and they

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Speaker 2: did suffer some serious smoking inhalation. They were taken to

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Speaker 2: the Parmestan Regional Hospital and we're returned to the prison

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Speaker 2: some time later. Now, corrections didn't specifically respond to that

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Speaker 2: question as to whether they were unconscious, But that's certainly

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Speaker 2: what my sources from inside the prison were saying. But

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Speaker 2: Corrections have confirmed under that incident did occur. There was

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Speaker 2: that fire in the cell last Thursday night. Those two

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Speaker 2: prisoners had to be taken to hospital and trated for

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Speaker 2: smoke inholation. I'm also spoken of the Northern Territory Police,

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Speaker 2: Katie Yes say that serious crime detectives are now investigating that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is exactly what I was going to ask,

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Speaker 1: whether this incident is now being investigated because it seems

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Speaker 1: quite bizarre that a fire just starts inside the prison.

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Speaker 2: Well, absolutely, and I'm sure that the police will be

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Speaker 2: trying to get to the bottom of exactly how that

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Speaker 2: fire started. Of course, Katie, a year ago we saw

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Speaker 2: a huge fire at the same prison and a significant

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Speaker 2: part of that prison burnt down. So you know, this

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Speaker 2: is another pretty serious incident that's happened out there. Interesting

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Speaker 2: that none of this information was made public by the

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Speaker 2: Corrections department after it happened last Thursday. But now that

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Speaker 2: this is what has transpired.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt, it certainly makes me question what else is

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Speaker 1: going on that we never find out about?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's a good question. I know that you know

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Speaker 2: a couple of those code yellows at the hospital that

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Speaker 2: you reported on as well, Katie, you know, we weren't

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Speaker 2: told about that until suddenly, you know, you found out

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Speaker 2: through other means. So, I mean, you know, there was

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Speaker 2: some grand promises made in twenty sixteen by this government

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Speaker 2: before it came to power about the things that was

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Speaker 2: allegedly going to tell the public about. But it seems

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Speaker 2: that there are many things that are still kept pretty quiet.

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Speaker 2: I don't know whether that's directed from the government or

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Speaker 2: whether the departments are just choosing not to make these

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Speaker 2: incidents in public, but.

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Speaker 1: Well, and it's certainly I mean something that's right. Well

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Speaker 1: and something like this, you know, with if we've got

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Speaker 1: a situation here where there's a fire at the daw

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Speaker 1: And Correctional Center that's resulted in two prisoners being rushed

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Speaker 1: to hospital, you would think ordinarily that that is something

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Speaker 1: that would warrant, you know, a release of information to

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Speaker 1: the public.

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Speaker 2: Well, you would think so, Katie Orlo. Let's remember that

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Speaker 2: back in I think it was twenty seventeen, there was

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Speaker 2: an incident where a guy who was being held at

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Speaker 2: the the Alice Springs Correctional Center. He managed to grab

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Speaker 2: a center k keys while he was at a medical

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Speaker 2: facility that's on site there at the day and Correctional

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Speaker 2: Center ground. He managed to get in the car. He

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Speaker 2: managed to drive it several kilometers up the road, run

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Speaker 2: a couple off the road in the process, and crashed

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Speaker 2: the vehicle. And no one told us anything about that.

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Speaker 2: Found out about it nine months later, so our surprise

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Speaker 2: you should see that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, still though you know, I always think it

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Speaker 1: all these kinds of things always do come out. It

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Speaker 1: is better to front foot it. But also, you know,

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Speaker 1: I know that people are in prison for a reason.

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Speaker 1: Obviously they've broken the law to wind up in there,

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Speaker 1: but every effort does need to be made to ensure

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Speaker 1: that they're safe.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, there's no doubt about that. And there's a duty

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Speaker 2: of care to ensure that they are safe. And that's

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Speaker 2: the other thing, I mean, the other interesting point of

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Speaker 2: this story, and something I've been told that corrections have

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Speaker 2: not confirmed in the anti police by an emergency service

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Speaker 2: have not confirmed either, but my sources say that there

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Speaker 2: was a fault system that delay officers being alerted to

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Speaker 2: the actual cell where the fire was happening, and that

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Speaker 2: there may be some moves are put to penalize the

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Speaker 2: contractor out of the prison because of that fault. And

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Speaker 2: I haven't been able to confirm that information, but that's

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Speaker 2: certainly what I've been told, and I put questions about

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Speaker 2: that incident too the corrections departments that they can respond

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Speaker 2: to that directly.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt Cunningham, I've no doubt that you will be

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Speaker 1: searching for some more answers there. Thank you very much

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Speaker 1: for keeping us up to date with that story, and

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Speaker 1: no doubt we'll be talking to you again very soon.

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Speaker 2: No worries, mate, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: That's Matt Cunningham there from Sky News and