A notorious prison that was only "fit for a bulldozer" is again housing adult prisoners as inmate numbers soar.
Fifty adult prisoners have been moved to the defunct Berrimah jail, which was decommissioned in 2012 by then-corrections commissioner Ken Middlebrook, who was recently appointed as an adviser to Corrections Minister Gerard Maley.
At the time Mr Middlebrook said the site was "only fit for a bulldozer", but a few years later it became the notorious Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.
Mr Maley said work at the facility was accelerated to accommodate growing prisoner numbers since the Country Liberal Party were elected in August.
"The CLP want to send a message, that if you commit a crime in the Northern Territory you'll end up in Berrimah, no questions asked," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"There is going to be a consequence for your actions, and we're going to make sure we've got capacity to put prisoners into this facility."
The dilapidated facility is part of the government's master plan to add more than 1000 prison beds by 2028, taking incarceration numbers in the NT beyond 3000.
It would mean more than one per cent of the NT's population would be in jail.
Part of the plan has meant a number of people have been moved across the Territory.
Since October, young people from across the NT, including Alice Springs, have been moved into the new Holtz Youth Detention Centre next to the high-security adult jail in Darwin.
The Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre is being used to house women prisoners from across the NT, which has concerned legal and advocacy groups.
Sisters Inside founder Debbie Kilroy said the Northern Territory justice system had reached breaking point and called on governments and agencies to condemn the "forced relocation of women and children".
Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley said the number of people on remand in jail had increased by hundreds since the August election, causing further pressure on both prisons and police watch houses.
He said up to 80 people were kept for weeks on mattresses on the floor in police holding cells at Palmerston watch house, which was no different to conditions in Alice Springs and Katherine.
"'I've already said numbers are higher than I'd like, but we're responding to police activity and we're responding to the expectations of the community," Mr Varley said.
"Yes, they are on mattresses on the floor; no, they're not inhumane conditions."
