The National Network of Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the Northern Territory Government’s ongoing use of police watch houses and overcrowded prisons as de facto human warehouses.

‘What is occurring in the Northern Territory is not a crisis of “law and order”, it is a deliberate strategy of violent colonialism,’ said Debbie Kilroy.

‘The National Network visited the Alice Springs prison in June this year. We sat with the women. We heard first-hand the deprivation and degradation they are forced to endure. We have spoken to community members across the NT who have described conditions in the watch houses and prison cells as nothing short of catastrophic,’ said Debbie Kilroy.

‘This is not mismanagement. This is not bureaucracy gone wrong. This is a government deliberately sweeping up as many Aboriginal people as possible, including children, and disappearing them into places where human rights cannot be upheld. Prisons and watch houses in the NT are a frontier of colonial violence,’ said Debbie Kilroy.

‘And the NT Government does not care. That is the most grotesque part,’ said Debbie Kilroy. 

The Ombudsman’s report confirms what all of our communities have known for years.

The Acting NT Ombudsman, Bronwyn Haack, has called on the government to end the practice of holding prisoners in police watch houses “as a matter of urgency.” Her investigation uncovered conditions that are “unreasonable,” “oppressive,” and “inhumane.”

The report includes harrowing evidence:

• Up to 17 prisoners packed into a single cell, mattresses crammed on the floor, one man forced to sleep between two toilets.
• Aboriginal women watched by male officers as they showered.
• Prisoners kept under constant artificial light, denied the ability to brush their teeth or access fresh air.
• Cells so cold that women shivered through the night with only one blanket.
• Toilets so putrid some prisoners placed their faces under the door just to breathe.
• People reporting they avoided using the toilet for weeks because conditions were so degrading.
• Contaminated water bubblers placed above blocked toilets, forcing prisoners to drink foul water.
• Prisoners left to develop scabies, respiratory illness, skin infections, and severe sleep deprivation.
• One person said plainly: “I thought I would die in there.”

‘These conditions are not an accident, they are the predictable outcome of a government hell-bent on punishment, racial control, and political theatre,’ said Tabitha Lean.

A system spiralling out of control because it was designed this way

‘The NT Government’s overcrowded prisons and watch houses are the direct result of the CLP’s punitive “law and order” agenda: expanded police powers, harsher bail laws, mandatory sentencing, and the relentless criminalisation of Aboriginal life,’ said Tabitha Lean.

‘This has produced a ballooning prison population that the NT cannot, and seemingly will not, manage safely,’ said Tabitha Lean. 

‘“Finding a bed,” as Minister Gerard Maley boasts, has come at the cost of human dignity, safety, and life itself. His refusal to apologise is not tough leadership, it is an admission that the suffering of Aboriginal people is politically acceptable,’ said Tabitha Lean.

The National Network refuses to look away

Our message is simple:

Enough.

We reject the NT Government’s attempt to normalise torture, degradation, and racist violence behind the walls of prisons and police cells.

We refuse to let Aboriginal women, men, and children be harmed in silence.

We refuse to accept a regime that cages people in conditions that strip them of their humanity.

Not on our watch. Not in our communities. Not for our sake, and not for the sake of future generations.

What must happen now

The National Network calls for:

1. The immediate removal of all prisoners from police watch houses.
2. An independent, transparent monitoring system involving Aboriginal-led organisations, including those led by criminalised and formerly incarcerated people.
3. Urgent repeal of punitive bail and sentencing reforms that have driven mass incarceration across the NT.
4. A whole-of-government commitment to community-led, non-carceral approaches grounded in justice, healing, and self-determination.
5. A public commitment to end the use of prisons and watch houses as tools to disappear Aboriginal people from their own lands.

The National Network stands with Aboriginal communities in the NT

‘The NT Government has turned watch houses into pressure cookers of despair. It has enabled prisons to become even greater sites of systematic abuse. And it has treated Aboriginal people as disposable,’ said Tabitha Lean. ‘As a National Network, we refuse to accept this. We stand with the women we met in Alice Springs. We stand with the families calling out for justice. We stand with every person harmed by this system. And we call on the rest of Australia to stand with us. Because what is happening in the Northern Territory is not a hidden scandal, it is a national shame,’ said Tabitha Lean.

For further comment, please contact Debbie Kilroy on 0419 762 474 or Tabitha Lean on 0499 780 226