Tasmania’s prison population growing at the fastest rate in the country, new data shows

Tasmania’s prison population is growing faster than any other state in the country, and a significant proportion of those prisoners are yet to be sentenced.

TASMANIA’S prison population has exploded to a 10-year high, increasing faster than the rest of the country, new data reveals.

Recently released Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show Tasmania had the largest increase in adult prisoners of any state – up 13 per cent – from June 2018 to June 2019.

Tasmania’s total prison population of 693 – a rise of 79 inmates over the year – compared to a national prisoner rise of less than 1 per cent, to 43,028 inmates Australia-wide.

Over the previous 12-month period, Tasmania’s prison population grew by 18 inmates.

It comes after an alarming Auditor-General’s report into Tasmania’s prison system, released last month, which revealed increases in prison lockdowns, doubling of workers compensation claims, and use of overtime to fill rostering gaps.

Labor’s corrections spokeswoman Ella Haddad said Tasmania’s prison population increase of 53.7 per cent since 2014 “comes as no surprise”.

“The prison service has been in crisis for some time. There is constant overcrowding, correctional officers are under extreme stress, and inmates have been able to basically jump the fence and escape,” she said.

The ABS data revealed one-third of Tasmanian prisoners had not been sentenced – up from 21 per cent in 2014.

Ms Haddad said the rise in unsentenced prisoners was a “direct result of the backlog in the court system”.

It follows comments by Chief Justice Alan Blow in the Supreme Court annual report, released last month, that said the State Government’s response to Tasmania’s court backlog was “inadequate”.

A State Government spokesman said the ABS statistics was “just a one-day snapshot of people in custody on 30 June 2019” and was therefore “not an accurate picture of Tasmania’s correctional facilities”.

“Since 30 June 2019, the number of prisoners has decreased. Today, there are 665 prisoners in the custody of the Tasmania Prison Service,” the spokesman said.

He said the Government would next week resume consultations with Westbury residents over plans for a new prison in the area but did not confirm when a call would be made to push on with the development.