Overflowing jails is no reason to let violent offenders roam free and commit more crimes, according to Shadow Minister for Health Bill Yan.
Mr Yan said more than six years of mismanagement had left Territory prisons under-resourced and overflowing.
“When the community voices its concerns about crime, safety, and the need for more police, the Fyles Government immediately points to the fact Territory prisons are full,” he said.
“Instead of bragging about full prisons, they should be out there preventing crime and providing the alternatives they keep talking about.
“Good policing solves crimes but great policing prevents crimes and we don’t have enough police on the ground to perform the role of crime prevention.”
Mr Yan said the Labor government’s priorities were not in line with community expectations.
“A key function of corrections is to keep the community safe,” he said.
“Violent offenders should be behind bars because Territorians deserve to feel safe
“But another function of corrections is rehabilitation so time in prison needs to be better spent.
“That’s why the CLP’s policy is to introduce Sentence to a Skill.
“More needs to be done to send low level prisoners to work camps.
“The government keeps talking about alternatives to prison but they’re not providing them.
“Labor’s had more than six years to respond to their escalating Crime Crisis and now they want to use the result of their failure on the justice front as an excuse for their failure on the crime front.”
ENDS