CRPD/C/22/D/18/2013 4.2 The State party accepts that the author was committed to custody at Alice Springs Correctional Centre and that he currently resides at a secure care facility. However, unless otherwise indicated, it does not accept the author’s version of the facts. 4.3 The Northern Territory Supreme Court’s periodic reviews have consistently concluded that, due to the lack of any other appropriate facility, there was no practical alternative to custody in the Correctional Centre. The Northern Territory Department of Health conducted risk assessments in relation to the author for the Court’s consideration. In the risk assessment dated 19 December 2011, a forensic psychologist found that, without the provision of significant support, future violence was a high risk. With appropriate support, the risk would be moderate. 4.4 The State party contests the allegation that the author was held in maximum security and confined in his cell in isolation for long periods at Alice Springs Correctional Centre. His care was supervised by the Northern Territory Department of Health and he received case management, disability and therapeutic services through the Forensic Disability Unit of the Aged and Disability Program, with the goal of progressing to a point where he could be placed in the least restrictive environment possible. An average of three individual sessions were scheduled each week and habilitation exercises included teaching coping and tolerance skills, progressive muscle relaxation, activities designed to increase the author’s communication abilities and activity sequencing training to assist him in improving or arresting the deterioration of his memory. The author was mainly housed in a high-support unit dedicated to the treatment and accommodation of forensic patients and other inmates with intellectual and psychosocial illnesses and other disabilities. While the unit is within the maximum security section of the Correctional Centre, the environment is significantly different to that in the general maximum security section. The author was supported by disability support workers and could access family. Outside business hours, staff of the unit also provided health and welfare support to supervised persons. The author had access to the courtyard and was provided with increasing access to low-security areas and, once the pre-requisite steps for external release had been completed, to areas outside the grounds of the Correctional Centre. He also participated in a day-release programme, which was however suspended at times following incidents of behaviour of concern or as a result of his lack of interest in the activities offered. 4.5 The author isolated himself (or was isolated) at times, when he expressed the desire to be alone, or, in line with best practices in disability support, in response to incidents of certain behaviour, for the safety of the author or staff and support workers. The author was at most times separated from mainstream inmates not held in the high-support unit. Often such mixing was designed to enable the residents of the unit, including the author, to participate in recreational activities outside of that unit. 4.6 The secure care facility in which the author was subsequently held provides a secure residential environment 24 hours a day, seven days a week by delivering supervision and intensive disability services and support. After the author was transferred there in April 2013, the Northern Territory Supreme Court continued to periodically review and supervise the arrangements for the author’s care in accordance with the Northern Territory Criminal Code. The Northern Territory Department of Health continues to report to the Court on the author and his progress. The author is generally supported by two disability support workers at all times. Each day, he is taken out of the facility to visit family members or to engage in recreational activities, including regular visits to the cinema, to outdoor recreation spaces and national parks, to shops or malls in Alice Springs and to the local swimming pool. As a matter of general habilitation and rehabilitation, he also has music therapy once a week and access to musical instruments. Reports of the Department of Health indicate that he has made good progress both at the Correctional Centre and at the secure facility centre. 4.7 As to the admissibility of the communication, the State party submits that the author has not exhausted domestic remedies with respect to his allegations under articles 5, 12, 13 and 14. The Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Act 1992 prohibits discrimination in the Northern Territory on the basis of disability and provides the Northern Territory AntiDiscrimination Commissioner with powers to investigate and conciliate complaints of discrimination, including the power to make legally binding orders. To the extent that 5