The state's Custodial Inspector says the Tasmanian Prison Service consistently fails to meet its own legislative obligations and human rights obligations through frequent and prolonged lockdowns at Risdon Prison.
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Custodial Inspector Richard Connock on Thursday released a report on lockdowns at the prison over December 2020.
He found there were 605 lockdowns in total for the month - 186 due to staff shortages.
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He noted in a previous report, which examined the month of January 2019, there were 334 lockdowns with 79 per cent of these due to staff shortages.
Maximum security units recorded 399 lockdowns in December 2020 with the majority of these in the Aspley unit.
Mr Connock said there were 20 days over which the unit was locked down for extended periods and it was not uncommon for it to be locked down over consecutive days.
He said in October 2020, the Apsley unit was locked down for seven days - although on one of these days, the lockdown occurred only over the afternoon.
Mr Connock said whole-day lockdowns meant there was no exercise time or access to fresh air which contravened the state's Corrections Act and United Nations' rules for treatment of prisoners.
"Tasmania's prison population has risen rapidly over the past few years," he said.
"With the increase of the prison population an increase in unit lockdowns has occurred.
"While it is not clear that they are related, these increases have led to claims that Tasmanian prisons are at the point of crisis, posing risks to the safety of staff and prisoners."
Mr Connock said staff shortages heavily impact out of cell hours and cause lockdowns, being the cause of approximately a third of all lockdowns across all facilities for the month of December 2020.
He said the prison service still relied heavily on correctional officer overtime to fill vacant shifts at a considerable budgetary impact for the government.
"Despite a further three recruit schools in 2020 with approximately 70 new recruits, the situation appears to have remained the same and with no contingency resources for unplanned leave and staff shortages, lockdowns continue to increase," he said.
Previous data provided to the Custodial Inspector by the Justice Department indicated that while 203 custodial officers joined the prison service since 2015-16, 102 had left.
"Additionally, there are currently 70 correctional officers with active workers compensation claims, 40 of which are not undertaking correctional officer duties," Mr Connock said.
Corrections Minister Elise Archer said the government had recruited more than 200 extra correctional officers since 2016.
"Prison management also continues to explore a variety of other strategies to minimise the likelihood of lockdowns," she said.
Labor's justice spokeswoman Ella Haddad said circumstances at the prison had progressively worsened year by year.
"Ms Archer is presiding over a system that is completely broken a system where fundamental human rights are being denied," she said.
Greens justice spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said prisoners were denied support and essential services during 24-hour lockups.
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Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
