NT Corrections System: Results of the Hamburger Report
Monday 28 November 2016 @ 1.05 p.m. | Crime | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure | Legal Research
Last week (24 November 2016), the NT Attorney-General announced in a media release that a redacted version of the Hamburger Report, the report released containing the review of the NT's correctional system, would be able to be released to the public.
Background to the Review
The Hamburger Report resulted from a ‘root and branch’ review of the former NT Department of Correctional Services commissioned in November 2015 by the former Minister for Correctional Services. The review followed a number of incidents at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, and public controversy about the security ratings of adult prisoners on work camps. It contains recommendations for youth justice, youth detention and adult imprisonment.
The review team, led by former Queensland Corrective Services Director-General, Keith Hamburger AM, was asked to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of the NT Department of Correctional Services. The review included structures and systems, overarching governance and resources for services and staffing, and whether more effective alternative services should be considered. The review team met with more than 60 stakeholders and the final report produced 99 findings and 172 recommendations covering all aspects of the NT Department of Correctional Services.
Results of the Review: The Hamburger Report
The report was delivered to the government earlier this year (2016) however only in October 2016, during the first sitting week after the election, did the Government release the executive summary, citing privacy and security advice.
After the full report was leaked to the media last week (November 2016), the Attorney-General (NT) released a media release with a link to the lightly redacted full report saying that the initial approach may have been "overly cautious".
The Hamburger Report contained a number of strong suggestions for review, including:
- The need for a culturally-informed justice system;
- The long term benefits of a rehabilitative focus for the community, as well as prisoners and their families; and
- An emphasis on correctional and detention centre staff training and skills.
In particular, the report focused on the building of the Darwin Correctional Precinct (DCP) questioning whether it should have been built at all, citing the statistics that more than 85% of prisoners in the NT’s adult correctional facilities are Indigenous, but the facility did not meet their needs.
The report also cited concerns, according to the Guardian, about "the facilitation of therapeutic intervention and culturally specific programs “necessary for successful community reintegration” and the isolation of workers, as well as finding that the accommodation of women within the prison to be unsuitable:
"The review team is also of the opinion that the accommodation of resident children with their prisoner mothers within the secure perimeter of DCP is unsuitable for a number of reasons."
The Hamburger report additionally found that the Immediate Action Team, a rapid security response team as a “visible deterrence” to prisoner misbehaviour, was ineffective for this purpose.
The Hamburger Report also found that periodic detention should be considered as an alternative to full-time incarceration for young people:
“Periodic detention whereby a young person is allowed to reside within the community to attend school during the week, and then report to the detention centre for weekend detention, may well serve the community’s need for protection during high-risk periods (weekends), while simultaneously imposing a less restrictive form of punishment."
Response from the Attorney-General
The Attorney-General, Natasha Fyles, stated that a number of the Hamburger Report’s recommendations had already been addressed through changes implemented by government since the report, and through recent machinery of government changes.
These included:
- Youth justice changing responsibility to the newly formed Territory Families;
- A comprehensive review of the Youth Justice Act commencing in January 2017;
- Looking to establish an independent oversight mechanism with powers to inspect and report to the Legislative Assembly on prisons and youth detention centres;
- As an interim measure, urgent amendments to the Youth Justice Act introduced to the Legislative Assembly in October 2016 which reverse the provisions legalising the use of mechanical restraints on young people in detention;
- Responsibility for adult correctional services being moved to the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice which will lead a comprehensive reform of the adult justice system;
- A focus on rehabilitation and the provision of appropriate educational, employment and family support programs and services for prisoners; and
- New universal and targeted strategies for child protection and youth justice focusing on prevention and early intervention, with increased investment in health and welfare from early childhood.
The Attorney-General also stated that some of the recommendations would have significant budget implications and that the government would consider those, and others, in light of the recommendations of the Royal Commission, to be handed down in 2017.
TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.
