The Law Society of Tasmania vice-president said lawyers had limited access to their clients, who were housed more than two hours down the highway at Risdon Prison. 

That limited access forced lawyers to regularly adjourn their cases and only added to the state’s court backlog, Mr Hughes said.

“A northern prison would make it simpler for clients to be seen by their lawyers, create greater efficiency in the system and see fewer adjournments in the court while we seek instruction from our clients,” he said.

“It would [also] be cheaper for the Legal Aid Commission, which needs to pay for lawyers to travel to Hobart from the North and North-West, so that cost to the community would be save if there was a prison in the North.”

Housing prisoners closer to their family and friends would also have a positive effect on their rehabilitation, Mr Hughes added.

“I am of the view that giving prisoners greater access to their families and having visitation and spending time with their families helps them reintegrate into the community when they are ultimately released as well as their mental health while in custody,” he said.

His comments follow news Meander Valley Council would lobby the state government to build a prison next door to the detention centre. 

Reacting to the renewed push for a jail next to the detention centre, prisoner advocate Greg Barns suggested any potential new facility should simply replace Ashley.

But a northern politician disagreed.

McIntyre independent MLC Greg Hall, who has been supporting the push for a northern prison for the past five years, said the detention centre housed “a very small cohort of people who are a danger to society”.

“If you close the Ashley Youth Detention Centre site, you’ve still got to put them somewhere and they can’t go to Risdon Prison, because they’re too young,” he said.

“Yes [Ashley] is a large site and it’s owned by the state government, but you could build a prison and still retain some part of it to coexist with a juvenile detention centre.”

Premier Will Hodgman this week described a northern jail as a “live option” for the state government. 

Opposition infrastructure spokesman Shane Broad said discussions about the Deloraine location were “welcomed”. Labor has promised $40 million for the potential project.

“The first stage will be to conduct detailed design work and consultation over potential locations,” he said.