With 3174 of every 100,000 Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory currently incarcerated, Aboriginal people are 13 times more likely to be imprisoned than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. This extreme
over representation of the Indigenous population can be limited through effective justice reinvestment. …..Northern Territory Prison System Report 2023
The report also makes several recommendations to allow prisoners to adequately rehabilitate in prison, and reintegrate back into society without making further contact with the criminal justice system. These include:
. Incarceration as a last resort
. Justice reinvestment from corrections to community based alternatives
. Isolating youths from staff charged with misconduct.
. Taking greater steps towards improving the handling of cases of mental illness, suicide and self-harm for women prisoners.
. Developing better educational and training programs for all prisoners in the Northern Territory.
The three key aims of the Aboriginal Justice Agreement are to reduce re-offending and imprisonment rates of Aboriginal Territorians to reduce crime, engage and support Aboriginal leadership and improve justice responses and services for Aboriginal Territorians.
Davina is a client at the Alternative to Custody Life Skills Camp in Mparntwe / Alice Springs.
“I really like it in here – prison is not the place to be and its very good having programs everyday, getting you to be somewhere once you leave and maybe changing your lifestyle of alcohol and things like that”