Locking up more Territorians is not a plan

I have lived in the Territory for 30 years. Three generations of my family now call it home. We want safe streets, strong communities and opportunities for our kids. We also want governments that are honest about what is working and what is failing.

Right now, the Territory is on the wrong track.

If the Northern Territory were a country, its imprisonment rate would be the second highest in the world. That is not something to boast about. It is evidence of policy failure.

For too long, both major parties have got the balance wrong. Some governments have gone all-in on “lock them up” politics without much thought for what happens when people come back out. Others have talked about reform but failed to back the services that stop people reaching crisis in the first place.

The result is the same: more Territorians trapped in a cycle of trauma, offending, prison and release, and the wider community paying the price.

I have worked in youth justice and child safety across government and the community sector for three decades. I am not soft on crime. I want safer communities today, tomorrow and ten years from now. But that will not happen if we keep confusing punishment with progress.

Locking people up without addressing why they offended simply creates bigger problems down the track.

Yet the NT Government keeps claiming success while pouring more money into prisons and backing policies that hit First Nations communities hardest, especially young people.

The NT spent $217 million on prisons in 2024-25 for a population of about 264,000 people. On an average day, more than 2600 people were in custody. Of them, 88.6 per cent were First Nations people.

That should shame all of us.

The same pattern is playing out in youth justice. In 2016-17 the Territory spent $31.7 million on youth justice. By 2024-25 that had nearly doubled to $58.6 million. It now costs $3452 a day to imprison a young person in the NT. There are cheaper, evidence-based alternatives, including group conferencing, that have been shown to reduce reoffending. But instead of scaling up what works, governments keep reaching for the same failed law-and-order playbook.

All Territorians deserve safety. They also deserve dignity.

Recent reports from the NT Ombudsman and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner should have set off alarm bells. Instead, they have too often been brushed aside.

The Ombudsman described conditions in NT police watch houses as “unreasonable and oppressive” and found some prisoners were subjected to inhumane treatment when held for long periods. Police also told her staff that taking prisoners to hospital pulled them away from urgent frontline work, including armed robberies and fatal crashes. So when politicians boast about putting more people behind bars, Territorians should ask: are we actually safer?

The Children’s Commissioner raised equally serious concerns about children being transported from Alice Springs to Darwin detention facilities more than 1500 kilometers away. Her recommendations were basic and humane: facilitate family visits, provide interpreters and follow existing policy. The Department of Corrections rejected them.

That should worry anyone who thinks accountability matters.

Oversight bodies such as the Ombudsman and the Children’s Commissioner are not optional extras. They exist to protect the public and improve the systems we all pay for. When governments ignore them, it sends the message that scrutiny only matters when it is politically convenient.

And behind all the rhetoric are children with real needs that are going unmet.

The Children’s Commissioner found that of 60 children transported from Alice Springs to Darwin, five were diagnosed with a disability while in custody. Think about that. Children with disability are being identified inside the justice system instead of being supported properly in the community. Access to family, medical care, NDIS support and connection to culture becomes harder once they are sent far from home. A prison is not a treatment plan. It is not disability support. It is not a substitute for a functioning service system.

No one denies the Territory has serious crime problems. Communities are right to demand action. But if the answer is jailing more traumatised children in conditions likely to retraumatise them and make them more likely to offend again, then the government is asking the wrong questions.

If we want safer communities, we need to invest in what actually works: early intervention, housing, mental health care, support for families and evidence-based diversion programs.

The government needs to start listening to all Territorians, not just the people who cheer every tough headline.

We were promised a safer, stronger, more prosperous Territory. That promise should belong to everyone, including kids in detention.

They are our children too.

John Adams
General Manager – Northern Territory
Jesuit Social Services