The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) welcomes the release of the Ombudsman NT’s Investigation Report (the report) into NT police watch houses. The report exposes the human impact of a justice system that is under severe pressure and a failure of government to ensure that basic human rights of people in custody are met.
The report found people held in NT police watch houses in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine and Alice Springs were, as a result of severe overcrowding in prisons, kept in conditions that were “unreasonable and oppressive”. Aside from severe overcrowding in cells, these conditions included people sleeping on thin mattresses on floors next to exposed toilets, constant artificial light, almost no time outside, limited access to shower and clean clothing, and stays lasting weeks to even months.
This report formally confirms what NAAJA clients and staff have been saying for months.
Watch houses are intended and designed for very short-term custody, before a person is either granted bail or remanded to custody in a purpose-built prison facility. Keeping any detainees – in the current context, overwhelmingly Aboriginal people – in crowded watch house cells for weeks on end is not tough on crime. Rather, it is a fundamental breach of any person’s human rights and general decency. Most of the people held in the Watchhouse during the period of the investigation were on remand, meaning they were held in these horrific conditions without having been convicted of any crime.
NAAJA Chairperson Theresa Roe says “How would you feel if it was your child or family member sleeping on a mattress on the floor, shoulder to shoulder with fifteen other people, next to a filthy toilet that never stops flushing, under lights that never get turned off, for weeks at a time? That is what the report says and the photos show. It might be normal business for this government, but it should not be normal in any first-world justice system that claims to be fair.
Watch houses are being used as overflow for NT prisons in conditions Australians would be quick to judge in other countries”.
NAAJA has played a central role in receiving and responding to complaints about watch houses. Many of the complaints considered by the Ombudsman were originally taken by NAAJA lawyers and staff from clients who begged for help from inside crowded cells.
“Our clients have told us about infections, lice, scabies, people losing track of days because the lights never went off, and the mental health harm of being stuck in a noisy, overcrowded cell with no fresh air and no space,” Ms Roe said.
It is disingenuous for this Government to blame the previous government for the appalling conditions in NT watch houses. This report makes clear that the Finocchiaro Government has implemented their ill-considered and short-sighted tough on crime program without the planning and investment required to ensure the dignity and human rights of all Territorians are respected and protected.
NAAJA CEO Ben Grimes says that “We need to think about the justice system as a whole ecosystem, and it has been thrown out of balance. The photos released in the report show the horrific reality of what happens when governments pursue an ideological agenda without properly considering and planning for the implementation and flow-on impacts. When governments rush tough on crime laws through on urgency, tighten bail and increase penalties, but don’t properly fund courts, interpreters, legal services, housing, supported bail accommodation, youth work, alcohol and other drug services and mental health, this is what happens. People, including children, end up stuck in watch houses in unacceptable conditions for weeks because there is nowhere else for them to go. What we are doing now is clearly not working and it is costing taxpayers substantial amounts of money, setting the Territory up for failure in the future”.
Despite this investigation, NAAJA remains concerned that clients may continue to be held in watch houses in unacceptable conditions, and with minimal access to family, programs and basic support. It is evident that this aspect of the justice system is broken.
We cannot accept a justice system that actively breaches human rights and that continues to cause exponential harm to Aboriginal people.
Ben Grimes adds, “As troubling as they are, I encourage every adult Territorian to look at the photos of the watch house conditions and ask yourself whether this is really who we want to be as a society.”
NAAJA thanks our clients for their bravery in sharing the stories that made this investigation possible. We also thank the Ombudsman for their investigation and call on the Government to implement the recommendation to remove Territory prisoners from watch houses as a matter of urgency.
Media contact
Comments in this media release other than direct quotes can be attributed to a NAAJA spokesperson.
Contact
Ben Grimes, NAAJA CEO
media@naaja.org.au
NAAJA MR2025-18
1 December 2025