A crime-troubled territory's first stand-alone women's prison will stop detainees from being heckled and hassled through the wire by male inmates in adjacent compounds.
Northern Territory Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said the first group of women would move into the 88-bed facility on Monday,
The Sector 11 site at the Darwin Correctional Precinct had been an open men's facility but an $8 million upgrade, including a perimeter fence, has converted it into a low-security women's prison set in eucalypt woodland.
It was designed to keep women separate from the male prison population to offer more space and dedicated rehabilitation opportunities, Mr Maley told reporters at the facility on Thursday.
"I've been in the previous women's section where there's heckling from men and abuse from yelling and screaming," he said.
It was hoped the women would "come out the other side better people", turn their lives around and break the cycle of reoffending, Mr Maley said.
Women classified as higher security will continue to be housed in the existing women's sector at the Darwin Correctional Centre, pending the completion of new secure accommodation.
Work was also progressing on a dedicated women’s prison in Alice Springs, with inmates expected to move to that facility in the first quarter of 2026, Mr Maley said.
Deputy Commissioner Custodial Operations Kym McKay said the new sector would allow tailored rehabilitation, skills training and education programs to be delivered free from the influence of male prisoners.
Having women inside a male-dominated system posed logistical challenges, he said, with classrooms and other facilities shut down to allow women in, then reopened again for men.
"This is the first dedicated, purpose-built facility for women in the Northern Territory ... aimed at supporting women to rehabilitate and return to the community," he said.
As of January 8, there were 174 women in custody across the NT - 114 in Darwin and 60 in Alice Springs.
