Tasmanian prisoners spend more time cooped up in their cells than their interstate counterparts, according to new data.
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The Productivity Commission's annual Report on Government Services has revealed that prisoners in Tasmania in secure custody spent an average time of 7.1 hours a day outside their cells in 2019-20.
The report shows the state with the next lowest average time out-of-cells for prisoners in secure custody was New South Wales, with 7.8 hours per day.
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The report describes time out-of-cells as "an indicator of governments' objective of providing a safe, secure and humane custodial environment".
According to the Productivity Commission, Tasmania also has the highest rate of serious prisoner on officer assaults.
The rate per 100 prisoners of serious prisoner on officer assaults in Tasmania for the year was 0.45, followed by Western Australia with 0.22.
The Productivity Commission found that Tasmania had the highest number of complaints from the public against police per 100,000 people last financial year with 156.6. This was a significant reduction on the 2018-19 figure of 222.9 complaints.
The report notes that the data is not comparable across jurisdictions or within some jurisdictions over time.
Police Minister Mark Shelton noted that more than 75 per cent of Tasmanians either agreed or strongly agreed that police treated people fairly and equally, compared to the national average of 69.9 per cent.
"We will continue to support our first responders by investing to ensure they can conduct their work safely, while also employing more frontline officers, upgrading emergency services facilities and equipping them with the latest technologies," he said.
Meanwhile, Tasmanians feel less safe on public transport than most people on the mainland. Just 26 per cent of people felt safe or very safe on public transport during the night and 48.4 per cent in the day. Tasmania was second only to the Northern Territory in this regard, where a mere 16.5 per cent of people felt safe or very safe at night and 34.6 per cent in the day.
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