Honestly - reading this I can't help laughing:-
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/the-system-is-at-breaking-point-people-on-remand-in-nt-prisons-endure-record-wait-times/ar-AA1sFAOf?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=801e8d5a6ebf444d897d3487cbc3d027&ei=25#comments"A year ago, locked in a sweltering prison in the heat of the Northern Territory, heavily pregnant Crystal Roberts never thought she would be where she is today.
Her son Chase was born behind bars and spent the first 10 months of his life within the confines of a concrete cell.
"For a few years I was struggling with a meth addiction," Crystal said.
"I tried to get myself into rehab, but there was a wait list."
Addiction got the better of Crystal, and she became involved in a drug syndicate that was already under the eye of police.
When she was arrested, she was seven months pregnant, and it wasn't her first offence.
She was once again facing the harsh realities of the Northern Territory's criminal justice system.
Charged and remanded in custody with no trial date in sight, Crystal had no idea if she would be separated from her baby when he was born.
In serious cases or when there is a flight risk, judges frequently detain people in jail while they await trial but are still legally innocent.
However, in the Northern Territory, courts have been unable to keep pace.
They are buckling under the weight of a system many say is in "crisis", leaving a record number of people languishing on remand in hot and overcrowded prisons.
An unprecedented number of people are being remanded in custody in the NT, and the average number of days people are spending on remand is longer than ever before.
Earlier this month, prisoner numbers in the NT exceeded historical highs, reaching a record of 2,315 inmates, according to corrections data — almost 1 per cent of the territory's population.
The number of people on remand also reached an all-time high of 1,052 people.
The prison population has steadily risen over the past year, surging by roughly 10 per cent, corrections data shows — largely due to the increase in people on remand.
The prisons are so overcrowded, more than 70 people are being kept in watch houses.
The incarceration bill, the government said, reached more than $275 million last year – roughly $400 per prisoner per day.
Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said he's held "multiple meetings" with the corrections commissioner since coming into office, about prison overcrowding and accommodation options within existing facilities.
But ultimately the CLP has promised to build new prisons.
While on remand, Crystal said she was treated "worse than a sentenced prisoner".
She said prisoners on remand are denied access to rehabilitation and training programs available to convicted prisoners, and some are put into medium security where the cells have no air-conditioning.
As her due date approached, she grew increasingly anxious.
"I was told that when I had [my baby], he'd be taken from me and that was due to happen on Mother's Day," she said.
Gabrielle McMullen's desk is piled high with case files — each representing a child in trouble with the law.
She's a youth crime lawyer at the Northern Territory's Legal Aid Commission, which is planning to reduce legal services from next year due to a lack of funding.
"I feel like the system is at breaking point," she said.
"The strain is immense, the hours are long … the caseloads are extremely high.
"There are people sitting in custody who have barely spoken to a lawyer, who have barely received legal advice."
Data from NT courts shows young people are also experiencing unprecedented delays in the administration of justice.
But Ms McMullen worries long remand times could get even worse after the CLP government last week lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years old.
Ms McMullen said witnessing young children waiting in custody was difficult to watch, as a lawyer whose job it is to help.
"If they haven't been found guilty, then they've spent a really long time on remand in extremely onerous conditions. That is really psychologically damaging," she said. "
More on link.Hmmm - looks like their government is trying to do something about the Crime Epidemic that is causing so many people to be kept in prisons...... either on remand or on conviction....
Hmmmmm ... **day dreams of Aborassic Park and Gondwanamo Bay ... nifty little open air gulags - Aborassic for those willing to go live the traditional way or for serial miscreants who will never learn, the counts ... Gondwanamo for the others... Aborassic peoples earn a few bucks as guards and trackers and dog handlers in the hunt for escapees from Gon'mo... if the crocs don't get them first (git'mo)... we could ship the bad Mussos there... the Pallie supporting violent students etc.... give 'em time to think things through properly... the NT has started on The Midnight Run, shipping kids from Alice Springs to Darwin for incarceration ... Midnight Express .... Night and Fog...**
