New privately operated prison announced by NT government

The Northern Territory government has announced plans for a new prison that will be built and operated by a private company. In a statement this morning, the Chief Minster's office said the 1,200-bed men's "remand and intake centre" and 200-bed women's facility would be built adjacent to the existing Darwin Correctional Precinct at Holtze, which sits on Darwin's outskirts. The NT government says the NT correctional system requires major investment. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)The government said the men's prison would be delivered under the "tried and tested Public Private Partnership" whereby the private partner would "design, finance, build, operate and maintain the facility".The statement added the women's facility would be "delivered by government as a design and construct tender" and operated by the Department of Corrections. Treasurer Bill Yan said a business case has been completed and will be published as part of the expression of interest process, which will go out over the next week."It's very, very important to know that the business case for this has been extremely rigorous and involved information and input from stakeholders, both within corrections and from within industry," he said."There will be no cost to the Territory on construction and design — that cost will be borne by the proponent and there'll be no risk to the people of the Northern Territory."Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the corrections system had been neglected for a decade and was unable to keep up with demand.The NT government has announced a new privatised prison for Darwin. (ABC News: Matt Garrick)"We've completely reformed the correction system, empowered them as a standalone agency to make sure community safety remains our number one priority, that we're rehabilitating prisoners, educating prisoners and supporting them post-release into work," she said."This is about building a strong corrections network to support community safety."NT Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said the government had been developing the master plan for corrections over the past two years."When this facility is open, there will be 1,200 beds for the men, the dedicated 200 beds for women, and that's going to help us to be able to deliver more training programs," he said.Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley said the move would boost rehabilitation for prisoners and enhance community safety.Matthew Varley says the move will boost rehabilitation outcomes for prisoners. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)"All Corrections infrastructure, no matter who it is operated by, falls under my remit and responsibility so the community can rest assured that the quality and safeguards are high," Commissioner Varley said."This is an opportunity to build a correctional system designed for the future with better infrastructure, better prison management and better outcomes for community safety."In a statement the United Workers Union condemned the CLP government's plan labelling it "one of the most reckless corrections policy decisions every proposed in the Northern Territory".Erina Early says privatisation is not about improving outcomes. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)NT Secretary of the union, Erina Early added that privatising the operation of the men's facility was "not about improving outcomes" but about "allowing private corporations to profit from incarceration".""A prison is not a commercial opportunity," Ms Early said."The deprivation of liberty is one of the most serious responsibilities of government and should never become a profit making exercise."Every dollar paid out as profit is a dollar not invested in correctional officers, rehabilitation programs, mental health services, prisoner education or community safety."The NT government expects the successful proponent to be contracted by the end of 2027, with the rest of the design and construction process expected to take about four years.According to data from the Productivy Commission from February this year there are currently eight privately operated prisons in Australia, located across New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.