Largest ever cohort of prison officers deployed from Darwin to Alice Springs amid staffing 'crisis'

Largest ever cohort of prison officers deployed from Darwin to Alice Springs amid staffing ‘crisis’

The current Don Dale youth detention centre is seen in Darwin, Wednesday July 27, 2016. Abusive treatment of young inmates at the previous centre by officers will be the subject of investigation of a royal commission after disturbing footage was broadcast on ABC's Four Corners program, showing teens being tear-gassed, hit, stripped naked, and hog-tied in footage from 2010 until 2015. The new centre is a repurposed wing of the former Darwin adult prison, which the former corrections commissioner said was only fit to be bulldozed. (AAP Image/Neda Vanovac) NO ARCHIVING

NT United Workers Union Erina Early says 10 corrections officers from Darwin were sent to Alice Springs to assist with staffing levels at “crisis point.”

She told Katie Woolf there are 330 prisoners locked away in evenings with only three officers working.

Ms Early says it’s hard to retain correctional officers due to assaults on the job, with many feeling overworked and undervalued.

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