Budget cuts to the Northern Territory’s prison system contributed to at least one suicide in a Darwin prison, the Northern Territory coroner has heard.
An 81-year old man who hanged himself from an overhead fan in his prison cell in 2015 was able to do so because budget cuts did not allow for safer fans to be installed in the Darwin adult prison, coroner Greg Cavanagh was told.
One more suicide and another attempted one have also occurred in the same manner since the man’s death.
In findings handed down on Monday, Cavanagh said it “beggars belief” that the prison – which was built within the last ten years – had “such classic hangings points with no mitigation of that risk.”
The coroner urged the corrections commissioner to ensure a solution was installed at the earliest possible time.
