A state government that prides itself on being tough on crime is a repeat offender when it comes to incorrectly letting potentially dangerous criminals out on the street, a Labor spokeswoman said.
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Ella Haddad was responding to Risdon Prison inmate Josh Brown, 31, being released early due to an administration error.
“This is by no means the first time an inmate has been incorrectly released from Risdon Prison because the Hodgman Liberal government has seriously under-resourced the corrections system,” she said.
Ms Haddad said the community was lucky Brown did not pose a direct risk.
Brown had spent nearly two weeks settling into life outside of prison when he found out he might need to go back to Risdon.
Tasmanian Prisoners Legal Service chairman Greg Barns said inmates incorrectly released should have some leniency applied to the remainder of their days.
“When these errors are made there ought to be a reduction in the number of days a prisoner has to serve because the error is on the prison system and it is deflating to be released and then returned to custody,” he said.
Brown told his family and friends not to visit him while he was incarcerated because he knew it was difficult for them to travel to the prison.
The Rocherlea man called home and wrote letters, but he said it was hard not physically seeing the people he cared most about.
He was serving a four-month sentence for a number of driving and drug offences, but an outstanding charge was dealt with while he was in jail and an extra 28 days were added to his term.
The Examiner has sent several questions to Corrections Minister Elise Archer since Thursday morning but has only received responses from a government spokesperson because the issue was deemed operational.
Over a two-year period from 2014, seven prisoners were incorrectly released before their sentences had expired, some of who had been sentenced for serious and violent crimes.
Ms Haddad said Ms Archer needed to take this issue seriously before potentially dangerous offenders convicted of violent crimes were accidentally allowed to walk from the prison gates.
Law Society of Tasmania president Evan Hughes said prisoners incorrectly released created difficulties and it placed the person in a position of uncertainty.
“It is most unfortunate when it occurs, but our experience is it is something that doesn’t happen anywhere near as often as it did,” he said.
In 2016, a report by KPMG was commissioned by then-Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin in response to a series of accidental releases
The report was released in January 2017 and it recommended the Justice Department streamline court processes and implement a single registry for all courts. A government spokesperson said the Justice Connect ICT program, which will result in the sharing of information from courts to the prison in real time, proposal requests were being evaluated.
“The solution will address the ICT components of the KPMG report,” they said.
