Today, the door will finally close on another chapter of corrections in the Northern Territory with the last prisoners to be transferred from the Berrimah Correctional Centre (BCC) to the new Darwin Correctional Centre (DCC) at Holtze.

The prison will be empty for the first time since it opened 35 years ago.

BCC opened on 1 September 1979 with 116 prisoners and 85 staff, all who had been transferred from the old Fannie Bay Gaol.

Commissioner for Correctional Services Ken Middlebrook said senior staff from both correctional centres will be on hand for a ceremonial closing of the sally port followed by the lowering of flags and the handing over of keys.

“Tens of thousands of prisoners would have passed through the Berrimah sally port over the past 35 years to begin their court imposed prison sentences,” Mr Middlebrook said.

“Prisoners will now be held at DCC which is a more secure, purpose-built, 1048-bed facility.”

BCC initially cost $4.2 million to build and has since seen a number of significant upgrades. Extensions and additions were needed over its lifetime to keep pace with an increasing prisoner population and to accommodate the resulting increase in staff numbers.

The Northern Territory Government will now complete an $800,000 upgrade of the central area of the Berrimah Correctional Centre to transform it into the new Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. Works on the upgrades will begin next month and are expected to be completed by early next year.

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