00:00A grim account from inside the Alice Springs Watch House.
00:07Some days there are nearly 20 women in a cell.
00:10When there are this many, we have to share a mattress as there's not enough room for
00:13everyone to have a mattress.
00:15In affidavits to the Alice Springs local court, two Aboriginal women describe their living
00:20conditions in overcrowded cells, including drinking from water bubblers above the cell's
00:26only toilet, a facility that is often blocked, and being forced to use sinks filled with
00:31vomit and saliva.
00:34The cell really stinks and is disgusting.
00:37You cannot get away from the smell.
00:40Rocket Bretherton knows the long-term impacts of the justice system all too well.
00:45It's very traumatising being in that situation and the situation that these people are in
00:50at the moment is even worse.
00:53You know, we're setting these people up for a lifetime of failure.
00:56The Northern Territories Peak Aboriginal Alliance are calling for urgent change.
01:01We're calling on governments that that must stop.
01:03That's got to stop.
01:04This is inhumane treatment and it's unacceptable in this day and age.
01:09The prisoner conditions have prompted federal attention, with Minister Malindiri McCarthy
01:14asking for alternatives to be considered across states and territories.
01:18I am concerned about the high rates of incarceration right across the country, not just in the
01:24Northern Territory.
01:25And certainly I have asked, though, in terms of the Northern Territory, I will be asking
01:29to be able to view the prisons in terms of Alice Springs and Darwin.
01:35I want to go in there.
01:36The prisons crisis is only expected to worsen, with the Northern Territory local courts releasing
01:41new data projecting an increase of over 4,000 criminal and domestic and personal violence
01:46cases this financial year when compared to last.
01:50The NT Minister for Corrections says hygiene checks are conducted daily in watch houses,
01:55although it is the NT government's preference not to house prisoners in police watch houses.
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