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Speaker 1: Now we are actually joined on the phone line this

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Speaker 1: morning by the Northern Territory Corrections Commissioner, Matthew Varley. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to your commissioner.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, Commissioner.

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Speaker 1: We just spoke to the Northern Territory Police Association President

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Speaker 1: Nathan Finn. Now we're obviously talking about the announcement yesterday

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Speaker 1: that we are in a situation where prisoners are being

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Speaker 1: moved out of the Palmerston watch House, or certainly corrections

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Speaker 1: moving out. He said, the prisoners are still in there

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Speaker 1: at the moment. Is that the case from your perspective?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, he's right, and we have worked hard this week, Katie.

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Speaker 2: On Monday we moved about ninety prisoners under corrections control

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Speaker 2: out of Palmerston Watchouse and handed all of those cells

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Speaker 2: back to police and we moved those prisoners to Berrima

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Speaker 2: and Holtz and we're in the process of moving another

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Speaker 2: I think seventy odd prisoners out of Alice Springs today

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Speaker 2: and tomorrow as we speak. So there are still prisoners

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Speaker 2: mister Finn's right in Catherine and Alice, Sorry Catherine and Palmerston.

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Speaker 2: Those numbers fluctuate daily and we appreciate and thank the

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Speaker 2: police for their help and support through what has been

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Speaker 2: an incredibly difficult time for both of our agencies. So, yes,

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Speaker 2: there are still prisoners held in those watch houses. We're

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Speaker 2: working as hard as we can to decant them out.

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Speaker 2: But I guess the good news for police activities is

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Speaker 2: we don't We no longer occupy cells in Palmerston. That

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Speaker 2: gives them more flexibility in being able to allocate and

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Speaker 2: we hope that we've removed some of that pressure from

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Speaker 2: their operations, all.

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Speaker 1: Right, But so at this point in time, while the

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Speaker 1: correctional staff have moved out, the police are still having

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Speaker 1: to manage those prisoners. How many have we got in

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Speaker 1: those watch houses.

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Speaker 2: So this morning? And the number fluctuates daily, Katie, I

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Speaker 2: think this morning in Palmerston there was about forty and

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Speaker 2: then in Catherrone thirty two. Catherine's down a bit from

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Speaker 2: some decants that have happened over the last couple of days.

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Speaker 2: In Alice Springs. My numbers this morning show that all

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Speaker 2: of the prisoners in Alice Springs we're in our custody,

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Speaker 2: and I think I'm just looking at the number now

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Speaker 2: that was about sixty or so and we're working to

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Speaker 2: move those this morning and tomorrow. As I said, we

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Speaker 2: moved twenty five out of Alice Springs Watchhouse yesterday and look,

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Speaker 2: you know, we know that there's a priority to move

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Speaker 2: those prisoners from Catherine and also Palmerston. We worked daily

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Speaker 2: with police Command on how we manage that, as well

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Speaker 2: as the prisoners that are sent to us by the courts.

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Speaker 2: Of course, you might remember we have daily appearances at

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Speaker 2: the daar and Local Court and at the end of

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Speaker 2: each day a truck comes from there to the front

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Speaker 2: doors of halts. But I guess the thing I wanted

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Speaker 2: to point out, Katie is I think two or three

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Speaker 2: weeks ago when we last spoke, we probably had more

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Speaker 2: than two hundred and fifty prisoners in watchhouses across the territory,

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Speaker 2: and today my numbers show us down to about you know,

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Speaker 2: one hundred, So a significant amount of capacity has been

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Speaker 2: brought online, Katie in the last week.

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Speaker 1: All right, well that is a good that is good

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Speaker 1: news in terms of the latest numbers in our correctional facilities.

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Speaker 1: How full are we at the moment, Commissioner.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, hasn't changed much, Katie, to be honest. The

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Speaker 2: big news this week for us was the we're about

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Speaker 2: twenty seven hundred and five I think today, plus watch

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Speaker 2: houses that I just spoke of, so you know, in total,

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Speaker 2: the numbers are around twenty eight hundred prisoners in the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory. But the big news for us on Monday

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Speaker 2: was the opening of the next block one hundred beds

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Speaker 2: at Berrima, so that facility now has a capacity of

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Speaker 2: three hundred and sixteen and Alice Springs, the modular accommodation

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Speaker 2: blocks ninety six beds that you and I've spoken about

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Speaker 2: a lot finally was activated this week, so we've got

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Speaker 2: the building and fire certifications for both of those new blocks.

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Speaker 2: That's you know, two hundred beds we've added in a week.

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Speaker 2: If you take the fifty two beds we added a

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Speaker 2: fortnight ago, there's two hundred and fifty new beds, which

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Speaker 2: is good for us. And we still have another ninety

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Speaker 2: six beds on the way in April, Katie at Arima.

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Speaker 1: That is good news. I mean it does, I would

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Speaker 1: imagine just enable you guys to be able to manage

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Speaker 1: things a little bit differently and a bit better within

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Speaker 1: those correctional facilities, Commissioner in terms of G four s

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Speaker 1: and the work that they're going to be doing and

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Speaker 1: those staff coming to the Northern Territory. Where are things

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Speaker 1: at with that.

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Speaker 2: We've been working full steam ahead on that, Katie. The

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Speaker 2: local planning team for Darwin's G four s kind of

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Speaker 2: footprint has arrived in the territory this week, so they

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Speaker 2: are on the ground now doing some forward planning. We

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Speaker 2: expect the first tranch of between ten and twenty officers

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Speaker 2: to be ready on the ground from I think Monday,

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Speaker 2: the twenty fourth of March, Katie. So our first strategy

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Speaker 2: there is to alleviate the pressures we face at the

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Speaker 2: Darwin Local Court and return our offices from Darwin Local

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Speaker 2: Court to the main prison system. And that first ranch

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Speaker 2: of officers comes from G fours with court security, court

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Speaker 2: custody services, escorts to and from court, and of course

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Speaker 2: we're even bringing in a couple of escort vans from

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Speaker 2: into state, Katie as part of that model. So there's

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Speaker 2: a lot happening. And then of course once we settle

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Speaker 2: that in we'll be moving through the next stages of

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Speaker 2: where else we can relieve pressure across our system.

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Speaker 1: All right, Commissioner, I am keen to just find out

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Speaker 1: before we have to let you go yesterday there was

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Speaker 1: indeed a prisoner escape. Northern Territory Police issuing a statement

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Speaker 1: to say a twenty one year old male had escape

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Speaker 1: from a facility on Willard Road in Howard Springs. Is

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Speaker 1: that a facility that is managed by Corrections?

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Speaker 2: No, it's not, Katie. So what you're referring to them,

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Speaker 2: there is the forensic Disability Unit. It's a we call

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Speaker 2: it the Cottages. It's on the site out at Holtz.

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Speaker 2: But what it is is a forensic disability support unit

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Speaker 2: run by the Department of Health and we work closely

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Speaker 2: with them. But the clients that are in that facility

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Speaker 2: are health clients. This particular person was not a prisoner.

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Speaker 2: He was actually on a health care transition plan from custody.

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Speaker 2: He used to be in custody last year, but he

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Speaker 2: has been at that facility for some months now undergoing

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Speaker 2: disability treatment. I'm a bit limited, Katie and what I

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Speaker 2: can say about him for legal reasons. But this person

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Speaker 2: was under a court ordered treatment.

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Speaker 1: Plan, okay. And in terms of the you know, the

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Speaker 1: monitoring bracelet, who was managing.

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Speaker 2: That we do so Community Corrections fits the bracelet to

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Speaker 2: that client as per the court order. And of course

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Speaker 2: when we were responding on the other night as part

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Speaker 2: of the investigation. You know, obviously we were tracking the

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Speaker 2: bracelet and providing that data to police, and then of

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Speaker 2: course I'd have to check the time in Katie, But

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Speaker 2: there was a period of time where we had what's

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Speaker 2: called a strap tamper alert, which means the person has

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Speaker 2: interfered with the bracelet itself around their leg. And obviously

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Speaker 2: we suspect removed it, and we passed that intelligence onto

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Speaker 2: police as part of their inquiries.

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Speaker 1: How does it sort of take what seems like a

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Speaker 1: long enough time obviously then for somebody to be able

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Speaker 1: to get away when that is removed, Like, that's one

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Speaker 1: of the questions that a lot of people are asking

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Speaker 1: us this morning.

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Speaker 2: So do you mean how long it takes him to

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Speaker 2: move from.

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Speaker 1: A particular No, like he you know, he cuts it

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Speaker 1: off and then he's you know, like he's gone. And

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Speaker 1: obviously you know that that period of time between the

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Speaker 1: bracelet being removed and authorities getting out there to go

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Speaker 1: and find him.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So just to clarify, Katie, and again I'm being

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Speaker 2: very careful with what I say here, but the bracelet

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Speaker 2: we was moved sometime was removed from his leg sometime

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Speaker 2: after he left the facility, So he absconded with the

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Speaker 2: bracelet one and then it was removed some time later.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I suppose that's my question is you know, like,

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Speaker 1: if he's if he's absconded, and you can tell that

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Speaker 1: he's not in the facility where he's meant to be,

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Speaker 1: you know, why does there seem to be such a

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Speaker 1: long period of time between then, you know, him being

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Speaker 1: on the run or you know, between police or the

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Speaker 1: public or anybody being alerted.

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Speaker 2: Well, the time frames from when he hadscondered from the

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Speaker 2: facility and then his departure, sorry, his removal of that

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Speaker 2: bracelet is I think from memory a couple of hours.

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Speaker 2: But there is a period of time there where if

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Speaker 2: the matter is reported to police, and police obviously respond

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Speaker 2: as they need to, and we pass that intelligence on

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Speaker 2: that's very quick. But then obviously police inquiries and investigations

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Speaker 2: have to continue. I guess what I'm trying to not say, Katie,

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Speaker 2: is the sequence of events that might jeopardize police intelligence

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Speaker 2: inquiries as to where he went and what he did.

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Speaker 2: But bottom line is, when someone tampers with a bracelet,

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Speaker 2: there is an alert that's triggered and our electronic monitoring

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Speaker 2: team are able to pass that intelligence on.

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Speaker 1: Would you describe this person as dangerous?

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Speaker 2: Look, this person has a history of offending. I think

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Speaker 2: it's important to note that the police have passed some

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Speaker 2: public information out and we have also provided police and

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Speaker 2: I share information all the time. The issue here is

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Speaker 2: his legal status, Katie. Now, this person is on a

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Speaker 2: supervised order because of his mental impairments, and that brings

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Speaker 2: with it some risk around his legal status. But it

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Speaker 2: also is a point that I would make that you know,

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Speaker 2: any person on one of these orders needs to be

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Speaker 2: treated with an appropriate level of caution by the public.

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Speaker 2: That's why the police have said and I think rightfully so.

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Speaker 2: And I made this point yesterday that if someone sees

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Speaker 2: this person they should report it immediately to police, and

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Speaker 2: of course let the police do their job, all.

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Speaker 1: Right, Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley always appreciate your time. Thank

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Speaker 1: you very much for joining us on the show this morning.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, thank you