Official visitors in prisons

Official visitors are appointed members of the community who visit Northern Territory (NT) prisons. Their role is to provide independent assessments of the treatment and conditions of prisoners.

They are appointed by the minister responsible for correctional services and are independent from NT correctional centres and work camps.

They operate in line with the Correctional Services Act 2014.

Appointment

The minister must appoint at least 3 official visitors for each custodial correctional facility.

They are appointed for a 3-year term to:

• Darwin Correctional Centre
• Alice Springs Correctional Centre
• Barkly Work Camp
• Datjala Work Camp.

Each correctional facility must be visited by an official visitor at least once a month.

Responsibilities

Official visitors do all of the following:

• visit the facility and look into the treatment, behaviour and conditions of prisoners
• provide a report to the minister on issues they have found in the correctional facility
• provide an independent assessment of prisoner conditions
• ensure that correctional centres are managed in line with relevant laws and community expectations.

Official visitors can't investigate or advocate on behalf of individual prisoners under section 31 of the Act.

They must not interfere with or instruct on how prisoners are controlled or managed.

Contact

If you're interested in becoming an official visitor, email officialvisitorsprogram.ntdcs@nt.gov.au.