Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
First up this morning, we know the COLP government say
that they have ramped up action on the corrections crisis,
with more than sixty prisoners transferred to the newly operational
Behramer Correctional Center and an additional fifty prisoners preparing to
relocate from Holtz. The Minister for Corrections, Jared Mayley said
yesterday the transfers come as prisoner numbers climb to two
(00:22):
than four hundred and ninety seven. That is astronomical. Those
numbers are massive and we know that it highlights significant
pressures on the correction system, but also the government say
on their commitment to keeping criminals off the street. I'm
pleased to say that. The Northern Territory Corrections Commissioner, Matthew
(00:43):
Varley joins me on the line. Good morning to you, Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Good morning, Katie. Good to talk again, Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Sixty prisoners are now in Berrimer Correctional Facility. When did
they move in.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well, sixty six actually, Katie today. We've moved there in
over the last two weeks since we've been able to
bring the first block of that facility online. I was
there yesterday with the team on the ground and having
a look and we've done some amazing work. The team
have worked NonStop really with our friends from Infrastructure Oricon
(01:16):
and there's some amazing contractors out there, Katie from QP Group,
there's a whole team there and I've got to tell
you other work that's been done there to bring that
facility back to life and online, there's been nothing short
of amazing. But there's another block. The second block in
that facility will be bought online probably early next week
and if we can make it work and extra fifty
(01:37):
prisoners in there before Christmas.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So an extra fifty before Christmas. How big an impact
is this having for you in terms of those moving
pieces really of the puzzle of trying to make sure
that you can accommodate all these additional prisoners.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, it's a relief valve in some respects, Katie. And
we've been able to reduce a little bit of pressure
on the system by bringing sixty six prisoners out of
you know, Palmerston and Holtz into that facility. They're sixty
six sentence prisoners and that makes way for new intakes
of reception remands from the police. But to be honest, Katie,
(02:15):
as fast as we can empty it out. The police
fill it back up with their arrests and their hard activity,
and you know, we're just going to keep responding to
that as best we can. But you know, you mentioned
two thousand and four hundred and ninety seven that was
on Monday, and of course that's a record high for
the territory, almost twenty five hundred prisoners. I didn't expect
to see that number until you know, this time next year.
(02:38):
And to give you and your listeners some perspective, Katie,
you know, that's one hundred prisoners we've gone up in
a month. So back on the nineteenth of November we
had two thousand, three hundred and ninety six. So one
hundred prisoners in a month, Katie, that.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Is a lot. It's a huge number of additional prisoners
to try to be accommodating. Commissioner, how you know, how
are things going? More broadly, I guess when you look
at the number of prisoners that are coming in to
the system and the way in which you try to
juggle everything, and then of course managing you know, the
(03:15):
needs of staff.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, look, Katie, the first thing I want to say
is that our staff have been sensational that you know,
they're working hard, they're working long hours, they're working over time,
they're working nights and weekends to make this work. And
you know, I've had nothing but help and support from
my senior officers and my troops on the ground in
all the prisons, and people are stumping up to the challenge.
(03:40):
You know. In fairness, our folks have been under pressure
for a months and year now and they just continue
to show up and get the job done for the territory.
I'm really proud of that. But you know, we're not
blind to the fact that we need more officers, we
need more staff in our prisons, we need more psychologists.
So that's why we keep recruiting, Katie. And you know,
even today I'm out at Owen. We're swearing in nine
(04:04):
new offices today in Darwen, another eight tomorrow in Alice Springs,
and in January, Katie, I'm very happy to say to
the community that we've got another forty new recruits commencing
in the middle of January. That's our largest course ever.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
That is good. That's good news, and by the sounds
of it, absolutely needed. Can I ask where are things
at the with the Youth Center in Alice Springs, being
repurposed yep.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
So we still have young people in Alice Springs. They'll
stay there through Christmas and into early New year. We've
made a decision that we'll look to relocate those progressively
from early January. And we have seventeen young people in
detention in Alice Springs and twenty one in Holts today
total thirty eight. So you know, we're progressively winding down
(04:55):
the Alice Springs Youth Center. But there are some complexities
with that and I I need to make sure I
deal with the real locations carefully so that I can
then start the works to repurpose that facility for women.
But just down the road Katie, at the Paperbark Facility,
we have the new bile support accommodation facility and what
(05:18):
will eventually be soon a intake remand center for young people.
And we've already started the contract works and the design
works to bring that facility online early in the new
year and in quarter one for young people.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Now, in terms of the youth detention center in Darwin,
we know that all that damage was caused just a
few weeks ago. How are things going now there?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, Look, our staff there have done a tough job,
and a remarkable job as well. We're recalibrating how we
run that center and making sure that we manage those
young people who have damaged that facility with I guess
perhaps a more shall we say, a careful regime and
how we managed that behavior. This is challenging work, Katie,
(06:05):
with some young people with very difficult behaviors and what
we're doing. And I'm meeting with my senior staff with
the Youth Justice managers on Monday to work through what
are the tools and policy leavers that I need to
look at to tighten up how we run the security
of those centers. I don't certainly want to see another
incident like that occur, but where the damage was done,
(06:28):
you know, we worked hard to fix that that facility
is operational. There's still more we can do, Katie.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
How many young people have you actually got in there
at this point?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
In Holtz we have twenty one and as I said earlier,
Alice Springs seventeen, So there's thirty eight young people in
detention today. It's a constant challenge. You know, they come
in there on ramand they go to court et cetera,
c And as you say, they're often bailed. But we
(06:59):
have plenty ofpacity in that facility and we're working hard
to make sure we can send we'll manage whoever comes
to our customers.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Can I ask in terms of the thirty eight young
people that are there, I'm assuming that the time that
they are in therefore obviously varies, and you've put you know,
like you've just outlined a number of reasons why that
might vary. They may indeed be on remand etc. And
may then end up being bailed. But when they are
in that detention facility, are they completing programs to you know,
(07:27):
to try and get them off the wrong track.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, absolutely, And you know, things that people would expect
us to deliver, like school. You know, the kids are
required to school. The Department of Education has teachers in
the facility every day. So we run school programs, we
run rehabilitation programs, and we run cultural programs, and of
course we have a very dedicated specialist assessment and treatment
(07:54):
team in there. Now. These are specialized psychologists and treatment
clinicians who work with the kids. Now, you know, we
understand the community's expectation that these kids face consequences for
their crimes, and they do that However, we also have
to make sure we're providing you know, the specialized clinical
treatment for some of these high needs kids.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Well, and look, you know, in some cases it sounds
like it would actually be a good thing for them
to be in there if it means that they are
going to be involved in those programs and that they
are going to you know, if it's going to help
to get them on the right track. I know there's
a lot of pushback from that and people not wanting
to see them in detention. I get that, But you know,
the more and more that we're hearing about about some
(08:36):
young people being bailed, you know a number of times,
the number of times that does not meet the community's expectations,
I just start to wonder bigger picture wise. You know,
how we do things differently to make sure that the
community is safe.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I present, Katie, and we understand that. And you know,
for a lot of these kids that come into detention,
to be fair, you know, sometimes structure that we're giving
them is some of the first structure they've had in
a long time. We make them get up in the morning,
we make them go to school, we make them go
to these programs, into their classes and as you can expect,
sometimes they don't like that very much and we have
(09:14):
to manage that behavior. And our staff do an amazing
job trying to dance a very fine line between you know,
authority and custody and an environment that kids can and
from now. Obviously, you know, in today's age, we need
to make sure that we do all we can to
rehabilitate young people. It's tough because some of them are
(09:36):
with us for short time. Katie. You know, of thirty eight,
about twenty eight of those young people are on remand
and you know that could you know, the time they
spend with us could change depending on their court case
and you know, whatever happens there. But by and large,
whilst they're in our care and our custody, they go
to class, they have a routine. We do our best
(09:57):
to make sure that they learn something.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Commissioner, before I let you go this morning, I know
you're under the pump, as are we already today before
I let you go. You know, there is a lot
of Territorians at the moment that are sort of saying
to themselves, you know, it's a good thing. Obviously, the
police are arresting, you know, arresting people when they're doing
the wrong thing. They are then going into our corrections
(10:21):
system once they've either been put on remand or seen
their day in court. I guess a lot of people
sort of wondering how tough or how you know, how
corrections are going to continue to cope with these ever
growing numbers.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And Katie, that's why we work so hard every day
to try and figure out the next step in our plan.
You know, we'll be working through Christmas and through New
Year and we'll figure it out. And I'm confident that
we'll just make it work. You know, if you'd ask
me two months ago, I would have hoped that my
plan for Berrima would see the numbers reduced in the watchhouses.
(10:59):
That hasn't worked for me, and that's not in my
favor because of the police activity. It's my job to
then redraw the plan, move the chess pieces around, talk
to my staff and keep going. So you know, we've
got a long term plan for the infrastructure master plan
that we talked about yesterday, but tactically, every day my
team is trying to figure out how we juggle these
numbers and we're just going to make it work, Katie,
(11:21):
because we know that's what the community expects.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
How much longer do you anticipate that you're going to
have to keep prisoners in the watch houses?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
As long as I need to, Katie. To be quite
honest with you, you know, I know the police are
under pressure. I know they want their watch houses back.
We are building Bremer as fast as we can. We
have the bill works in Alice Springs Correctional Facility for
those modulars again as fast as we can. I'm putting
a lot of pressure on the contractors to make all
(11:50):
this work. But at the end of the day, what
I see is everyone in my team working hard to
figure this out. And you know, at the end of
the day, if the police send us another hundred prisoners
next month, we'll just keep going.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well. Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley, I really appreciate your time
this morning. I appreciate all the time that you have
given us throughout the year. I know it's going to
be a busy Christmas by the sounds of things, but
Merry Christmas to you, to all of the correctional staff
working bloody hard under what our difficult circumstances.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Thanks Katie, and thanks to you and the community. Support
for corrections. Our staff are often quite behind the scenes,
but let me tell you they're out there protecting the
community as much as anyone, every day of the week.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Thanks so much, Thanks so much. Appreciate your time.
First up this morning, we know the COLP government say
that they have ramped up action on the corrections crisis,
with more than sixty prisoners transferred to the newly operational
Behramer Correctional Center and an additional fifty prisoners preparing to
relocate from Holtz. The Minister for Corrections, Jared Mayley said
yesterday the transfers come as prisoner numbers climb to two
(00:22):
than four hundred and ninety seven. That is astronomical. Those
numbers are massive and we know that it highlights significant
pressures on the correction system, but also the government say
on their commitment to keeping criminals off the street. I'm
pleased to say that. The Northern Territory Corrections Commissioner, Matthew
(00:43):
Varley joins me on the line. Good morning to you, Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Good morning, Katie. Good to talk again, Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Sixty prisoners are now in Berrimer Correctional Facility. When did
they move in.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well, sixty six actually, Katie today. We've moved there in
over the last two weeks since we've been able to
bring the first block of that facility online. I was
there yesterday with the team on the ground and having
a look and we've done some amazing work. The team
have worked NonStop really with our friends from Infrastructure Oricon
(01:16):
and there's some amazing contractors out there, Katie from QP Group,
there's a whole team there and I've got to tell
you other work that's been done there to bring that
facility back to life and online, there's been nothing short
of amazing. But there's another block. The second block in
that facility will be bought online probably early next week
and if we can make it work and extra fifty
(01:37):
prisoners in there before Christmas.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So an extra fifty before Christmas. How big an impact
is this having for you in terms of those moving
pieces really of the puzzle of trying to make sure
that you can accommodate all these additional prisoners.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, it's a relief valve in some respects, Katie. And
we've been able to reduce a little bit of pressure
on the system by bringing sixty six prisoners out of
you know, Palmerston and Holtz into that facility. They're sixty
six sentence prisoners and that makes way for new intakes
of reception remands from the police. But to be honest, Katie,
(02:15):
as fast as we can empty it out. The police
fill it back up with their arrests and their hard activity,
and you know, we're just going to keep responding to
that as best we can. But you know, you mentioned
two thousand and four hundred and ninety seven that was
on Monday, and of course that's a record high for
the territory, almost twenty five hundred prisoners. I didn't expect
to see that number until you know, this time next year.
(02:38):
And to give you and your listeners some perspective, Katie,
you know, that's one hundred prisoners we've gone up in
a month. So back on the nineteenth of November we
had two thousand, three hundred and ninety six. So one
hundred prisoners in a month, Katie, that.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Is a lot. It's a huge number of additional prisoners
to try to be accommodating. Commissioner, how you know, how
are things going? More broadly, I guess when you look
at the number of prisoners that are coming in to
the system and the way in which you try to
juggle everything, and then of course managing you know, the
(03:15):
needs of staff.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, look, Katie, the first thing I want to say
is that our staff have been sensational that you know,
they're working hard, they're working long hours, they're working over time,
they're working nights and weekends to make this work. And
you know, I've had nothing but help and support from
my senior officers and my troops on the ground in
all the prisons, and people are stumping up to the challenge.
(03:40):
You know. In fairness, our folks have been under pressure
for a months and year now and they just continue
to show up and get the job done for the territory.
I'm really proud of that. But you know, we're not
blind to the fact that we need more officers, we
need more staff in our prisons, we need more psychologists.
So that's why we keep recruiting, Katie. And you know,
even today I'm out at Owen. We're swearing in nine
(04:04):
new offices today in Darwen, another eight tomorrow in Alice Springs,
and in January, Katie, I'm very happy to say to
the community that we've got another forty new recruits commencing
in the middle of January. That's our largest course ever.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
That is good. That's good news, and by the sounds
of it, absolutely needed. Can I ask where are things
at the with the Youth Center in Alice Springs, being
repurposed yep.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
So we still have young people in Alice Springs. They'll
stay there through Christmas and into early New year. We've
made a decision that we'll look to relocate those progressively
from early January. And we have seventeen young people in
detention in Alice Springs and twenty one in Holts today
total thirty eight. So you know, we're progressively winding down
(04:55):
the Alice Springs Youth Center. But there are some complexities
with that and I I need to make sure I
deal with the real locations carefully so that I can
then start the works to repurpose that facility for women.
But just down the road Katie, at the Paperbark Facility,
we have the new bile support accommodation facility and what
(05:18):
will eventually be soon a intake remand center for young people.
And we've already started the contract works and the design
works to bring that facility online early in the new
year and in quarter one for young people.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Now, in terms of the youth detention center in Darwin,
we know that all that damage was caused just a
few weeks ago. How are things going now there?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, Look, our staff there have done a tough job,
and a remarkable job as well. We're recalibrating how we
run that center and making sure that we manage those
young people who have damaged that facility with I guess
perhaps a more shall we say, a careful regime and
how we managed that behavior. This is challenging work, Katie,
(06:05):
with some young people with very difficult behaviors and what
we're doing. And I'm meeting with my senior staff with
the Youth Justice managers on Monday to work through what
are the tools and policy leavers that I need to
look at to tighten up how we run the security
of those centers. I don't certainly want to see another
incident like that occur, but where the damage was done,
(06:28):
you know, we worked hard to fix that that facility
is operational. There's still more we can do, Katie.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
How many young people have you actually got in there
at this point?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
In Holtz we have twenty one and as I said earlier,
Alice Springs seventeen, So there's thirty eight young people in
detention today. It's a constant challenge. You know, they come
in there on ramand they go to court et cetera,
c And as you say, they're often bailed. But we
(06:59):
have plenty ofpacity in that facility and we're working hard
to make sure we can send we'll manage whoever comes
to our customers.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Can I ask in terms of the thirty eight young
people that are there, I'm assuming that the time that
they are in therefore obviously varies, and you've put you know,
like you've just outlined a number of reasons why that
might vary. They may indeed be on remand etc. And
may then end up being bailed. But when they are
in that detention facility, are they completing programs to you know,
(07:27):
to try and get them off the wrong track.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, absolutely, And you know, things that people would expect
us to deliver, like school. You know, the kids are
required to school. The Department of Education has teachers in
the facility every day. So we run school programs, we
run rehabilitation programs, and we run cultural programs, and of
course we have a very dedicated specialist assessment and treatment
(07:54):
team in there. Now. These are specialized psychologists and treatment
clinicians who work with the kids. Now, you know, we
understand the community's expectation that these kids face consequences for
their crimes, and they do that However, we also have
to make sure we're providing you know, the specialized clinical
treatment for some of these high needs kids.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Well, and look, you know, in some cases it sounds
like it would actually be a good thing for them
to be in there if it means that they are
going to be involved in those programs and that they
are going to you know, if it's going to help
to get them on the right track. I know there's
a lot of pushback from that and people not wanting
to see them in detention. I get that, But you know,
the more and more that we're hearing about about some
(08:36):
young people being bailed, you know a number of times,
the number of times that does not meet the community's expectations,
I just start to wonder bigger picture wise. You know,
how we do things differently to make sure that the
community is safe.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I present, Katie, and we understand that. And you know,
for a lot of these kids that come into detention,
to be fair, you know, sometimes structure that we're giving
them is some of the first structure they've had in
a long time. We make them get up in the morning,
we make them go to school, we make them go
to these programs, into their classes and as you can expect,
sometimes they don't like that very much and we have
(09:14):
to manage that behavior. And our staff do an amazing
job trying to dance a very fine line between you know,
authority and custody and an environment that kids can and
from now. Obviously, you know, in today's age, we need
to make sure that we do all we can to
rehabilitate young people. It's tough because some of them are
(09:36):
with us for short time. Katie. You know, of thirty eight,
about twenty eight of those young people are on remand
and you know that could you know, the time they
spend with us could change depending on their court case
and you know, whatever happens there. But by and large,
whilst they're in our care and our custody, they go
to class, they have a routine. We do our best
(09:57):
to make sure that they learn something.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Commissioner, before I let you go this morning, I know
you're under the pump, as are we already today before
I let you go. You know, there is a lot
of Territorians at the moment that are sort of saying
to themselves, you know, it's a good thing. Obviously, the
police are arresting, you know, arresting people when they're doing
the wrong thing. They are then going into our corrections
(10:21):
system once they've either been put on remand or seen
their day in court. I guess a lot of people
sort of wondering how tough or how you know, how
corrections are going to continue to cope with these ever
growing numbers.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And Katie, that's why we work so hard every day
to try and figure out the next step in our plan.
You know, we'll be working through Christmas and through New
Year and we'll figure it out. And I'm confident that
we'll just make it work. You know, if you'd ask
me two months ago, I would have hoped that my
plan for Berrima would see the numbers reduced in the watchhouses.
(10:59):
That hasn't worked for me, and that's not in my
favor because of the police activity. It's my job to
then redraw the plan, move the chess pieces around, talk
to my staff and keep going. So you know, we've
got a long term plan for the infrastructure master plan
that we talked about yesterday, but tactically, every day my
team is trying to figure out how we juggle these
numbers and we're just going to make it work, Katie,
(11:21):
because we know that's what the community expects.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
How much longer do you anticipate that you're going to
have to keep prisoners in the watch houses?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
As long as I need to, Katie. To be quite
honest with you, you know, I know the police are
under pressure. I know they want their watch houses back.
We are building Bremer as fast as we can. We
have the bill works in Alice Springs Correctional Facility for
those modulars again as fast as we can. I'm putting
a lot of pressure on the contractors to make all
(11:50):
this work. But at the end of the day, what
I see is everyone in my team working hard to
figure this out. And you know, at the end of
the day, if the police send us another hundred prisoners
next month, we'll just keep going.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well. Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley, I really appreciate your time
this morning. I appreciate all the time that you have
given us throughout the year. I know it's going to
be a busy Christmas by the sounds of things, but
Merry Christmas to you, to all of the correctional staff
working bloody hard under what our difficult circumstances.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Thanks Katie, and thanks to you and the community. Support
for corrections. Our staff are often quite behind the scenes,
but let me tell you they're out there protecting the
community as much as anyone, every day of the week.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Thanks so much, Thanks so much. Appreciate your time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!