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ABC News
25-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
NT government expands role of G4S private security guards to support overcrowded watch houses
In an expansion of private prison staff responsibilities in the Northern Territory, Department of Corrections employees have heard the duties performed by private security firm G4S will be increased. In March, the NT government signed a six-month contract with G4S to manage the transfer of Darwin prisoners. G4S security guards currently help to transfer inmates between prisons and the courts, as territory correctional staff face record prisoner numbers. Despite a recruitment drive for 202 new corrections officers to be employed inside prisons this financial year, NT Corrections Minister Gerard Maley has previously acknowledged the prison population is growing and that the government needs to expand the workforce. In an internal memo seen by the ABC, corrections staff were told Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley had signed a work order to expand the duties carried out by private security guards. "As we shape this next phase, we are working closely with G4S to determine what a Northern Territory-based G4S staffing model could look like." The United Workers Union (UWU), which represents corrections officers, has been strongly opposed to the NT's six-month arrangement with G4S since it began in March. UWU NT branch secretary Erina Early said although G4S guards had been assisting with prison transfers since that time, corrections staff had not seen any improvement to their working conditions. "It hasn't made much change to our correctional officers at all because the [prisoner] numbers are increasing," she said. "Bringing in G4S may relieve a couple of shifts, but it's not having the outcome that the government [is] hoping for." Ms Early said union members were worried for "the safety of the prisoners and also safety of the police" — who have a different skillset to correctional officers — and held concerns the expansion of G4S's services signalled growing privatisation in the NT's corrections system. "They've been saying this since it was announced by Commissioner Matthew Varley, that G4S were coming in — as soon as you have them in, it's like a cancer, they will spread," she said. "They have been taking more and more roles." Corrections Minister Gerard Maley last month told the ABC that privatising the entire NT prison system was not on the government's radar. "There are private firms that run prisons in their entirety, that's not our plan at all," he said. "Our plan is to make sure that we have highly trained officers behind the wire, and then independent contractors such as G4S doing the services outside that." The NT's corrections department has been housing a growing number of prisoners in police watch houses in recent months, due to capacity constraints at territory prisons. Earlier this week, there were about 100 people being held inside the Palmerston police watch house, including overflow corrections prisoners. G4S is part of American private security giant Allied Universal, which employs more than 800,000 people internationally and generates about $20 billion in annual revenue. The company describes itself as a "global leader in security". Security guards employed by G4S in Australia mainly work in prisons and detention centres. The firm has operated Victoria's largest maximum security prison, Port Phillip Prison, since it opened in 1997. A 2018 report by the Victorian auditor-general's office found "serious incidents" at Port Phillip Prison, including assaults and drug use, and "exposed weaknesses in how G4S … manage safety and security risks". A Victorian coroner recently recommended G4S improve staff training following the "preventable" 2022 death of an Aboriginal man in his prison cell. Port Phillip Prison is due to close by the end of this year. Last year, G4S reached a confidential settlement with the parents of an Iranian asylum seeker, who was fatally bashed by guards at a Manus Island offshore detention centre in 2014. The company was also fined over its role in the death of an Aboriginal elder, who overheated in the back of a prison van in remote Western Australia in 2008. It is not yet clear how much the NT government's contract with G4S has cost the public.
ABC News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Lockdowns occurring 'all of the time' at every NT prison, corrections boss tells budget estimates
The Northern Territory corrections commissioner says lockdowns are occurring "all of the time" at every NT prison, as inmate numbers continue to soar. More than 1 per cent of the Northern Territory's population is incarcerated, with Department of Corrections (DOC) figures showing 2,834 people were behind bars as of Thursday. Half of the people in jail are on remand, with the total prison population rising by 600 since the Country Liberal Party (CLP) was elected last August. Due to the rising prisoner numbers and staff shortages, lockdowns have been frequently implemented by the DOC. Responding to a question at budget estimates in NT parliament on Thursday, Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley said he could not provide a specific figure on the number of lockdowns at adult prisons since September. Instead, he said there were "lockdowns across all of the facilities all of the time". "[The number of lockdowns has] been substantial in the last number of months because of the rate of prisoner growth and the stretch that we have experienced," Commissioner Varley said. Commissioner Varley said it was difficult for the DOC to provide specific lockdown data, because they occurred "in a range of scenarios". "From a cell or block or wing being locked down, to entire facilities," he said. "It is relatively rare for a lockdown of an entire facility to occur because of the nature of staff shortages. "What is more likely to occur is that the entire facility is locked down for short periods of time, depending on operational events. "But [it is] more likely that various parts of the prison, various wings and cells are locked down … what we call rolling unlocks, which are staged locks and unlocks throughout the day." During the budget estimates session, the DOC did provide data on lockdowns in youth detention facilities. Acting Deputy Commissioner Sasha Dennis said there were 25 "rotational lockdowns" between July 2024 and the end of March this year. "They are due to operational requirements, such as low staffing or high levels of escorts, including court, medical, and leave of absences — requiring transport of young people outside of the facility," she said. There were 55 youths in detention on Thursday, according to the DOC. The territory's three adult jails and two work camps cannot accommodate the entire prison population. Prisoners who cannot fit into those facilities are being held in police watch houses, where DOC staff have not been present since March. During budget estimates, Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said there were 70 prisoners in police watch houses as of Thursday. Of the 70 prisoners, 51 were being held at Palmerston watch house, 10 at Katherine watch house and nine at the watch house in Alice Springs. Mr Maley said 20 prisoners at the Palmerston watch house had been held there for more than a week, with one prisoner's stint stretching to 14 days as of Thursday. While in a watch house, prisoners do not leave their cell and lights remain on 24 hours a day, Mr Maley confirmed. In February, the NT government passed legislation allowing it to hire private and interstate guards to work in the corrections system. The government subsequently contracted private security firm G4S to manage prisoner transfers in Darwin, in a bid to boost the overall workforce and reduce overtime payments. During budget estimates, Commissioner Varley said the overtime bill "for custodial operations" between July 2024 and the end of March this year reached $19.23 million, for 266,000 extra hours worked. "That's an average of 355 hours per prisoner," he said. "By the time we get to June 30, we'll probably end up with an overtime bill similar to what we did last year."
