IT never rains in prisons, it pours.
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And it can almost be forecast in a cycle.
This year has been a shocking year for Risdon Prison.
Monday's great escape was the fifth major incident for 2015.
A coronial inquest is on foot to determine the circumstances surrounding how three men died in a short space of time while in custody, two at the prison itself.
In August, out-of-control inmates managed to take a prison guard hostage in a cell with a make-shift weapon.
On Monday, a prisoner was able to allegedly slip under a roller door armed with a carving knife and waltz out of the prison, sparking a huge manhunt involving more than 50 police and the rescue helicopter.
An internal review is under way into how the escape happened, as well as a review into the deaths, and a separate coronial inquest is also being conducted by the coroner.
Premier Will Hodgman and Corrections Minister Vanessa Goodwin have both voiced their displeasure at what's occurred at Risdon.
They say the results of the various reviews and inquests will allow problems to be fixed and prevent any repeats.
Prison trouble is certainly not unique to Tasmania.
All around the world prisons experience riots, sieges, deaths and escapes.
Goulburn jail, in New South Wales, is also having a terrible year.
An escaped inmate was on Thursday caught 160 kilometres from the jail, and last month a maximum security prisoner escaped by tying bed sheets and climbing over a wall.
The prison is introducing phone scanners, after 325 contraband mobiles were retrieved in a year.
Both escapes have prompted reviews into security.
Tasmania's prison system certainly isn't short on reviews and inquiries.
Between 1999 and 2000 a spate of deaths led to a major coronial inquest.
The Legislative Council in 1999 recommended a new prison be constructed to address major concerns around conditions, and Justice Shan Tennent made the same recommendation in 2001.
The government announced plans to build one a short time later.
Before it opened, sieges in 2005 and 2006 brought the prison back into the news.
In late 2006, the new Risdon Prison Complex was up and running.
But then 2010 became a troublesome year, and led to a damning report by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer.
Within a month, there were serious assaults on six guards, cells were damaged and about 70 prisoners had to be relocated.
The Palmer report warned of a deadly riot if the culture didn't change.
Then-corrections minister Nick McKim brought forward money in the budget for a new gym, and employed a prison administrator and a prison inspector.
The current state government has thrown $9 million at the prison and employed 65 new correctional staff.
All the resources in the world can be thrown at a prison, but at the end of the day an inmate is still being deprived of freedom, and desperate situations develop.
While the courts determine whether someone should be stripped of their liberty, the government of the day must ensure the best people are employed, prisoners are offered the best conditions, and that there is a non-violent culture and high staff morale.
As Winston Churchill said in 1910, we must remember that even when every material improvement has been made in a prison, "the convict stands deprived of everything that a free man calls life".
"We must not forget that all these improvements, which are sometimes salves to our conscience, do not change that position."