THE Tasmanian Prison Service has denied claims that lawyers have problems accessing clients in custody.
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A solicitor with a client who appeared via video-link from prison asked the Launceston Magistrates Court on Friday for an adjournment until early next month because he had been unable to obtain instructions, through no fault of his client.
The lawyer said he had continually made representations that access to clients in custody needed to be improved, but there were still difficulties.
However, a prison service spokeswoman said the service was unaware of the Law Society of Tasmania referring any recent matters to the service about access to prisoners.
‘‘A memorandum of understanding between the prison service and law society has been operating successfully since 2011 and is subject to regular review,’’ the spokeswoman said.
Law society president Matthew Verney said that if lawyers were having problems accessing clients in custody, this was a concern that the society would work with the prison service to resolve.
Launceston lawyer Evan Hughes, a senior associate with Rae and Partners, said the main problem was that there were only three weekdays, usually from 9am to 4pm, for lawyers to access clients in Risdon Prison.
Mr Hughes said it was particularly difficult for lawyers outside Southern Tasmania to visit Risdon and called for weekend access to clients to be reintroduced.
Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania director Graham Hill said that short notice telephone appointments with clients in Risdon were ‘‘particularly difficult, if not impossible, to obtain’’.
Dr Hill said it was also difficult for lawyers to get appointments at convenient times, because there were only set times for telephone appointments, which were usually when lawyers were in court or at lunch.
However, he said that legal aid was working with the Department of Justice to improve the situation and he was confident that these difficulties would be overcome.