Documents obtained by the Tasmanian Greens show the "concerning" frequency of lockdowns at Tasmania's Risdon Prison last year. More than 6,150 lockdowns were recorded at the site's 16 prison units, including the Southern Remand Centre, Ron Barwick Prison and Mary Hutchinson women's prison. More than 16,000 hours of lockdowns were listed as due to staff shortages.
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00:00Hey mate, just to let you know, I've currently got you on speaker, right, and I'm sitting
00:07in ABC newsroom at the moment.
00:10This is the moment Tash Cooper's son called from Risdon Prison.
00:14She just sat down with the ABC to share her concerns about regular lockdowns at the state's
00:19Remand Centre, where her son is locked up.
00:22Eighteen days of March, how many days have you had outside?
00:27Three.
00:28Three days, out of 18.
00:31He says those days in his cell take a toll on his mental health.
00:34Every time I've been trapped in my cell, I've had nothing to take my mind off drugs, alcohol
00:41or anything like that.
00:42I just sit in my head just thinking about it all.
00:46It's not good enough.
00:47Phone call I just received from him, his words are, these lockdowns are putrid.
00:52Tash isn't making excuses for her son.
00:55He's in there for a reason, yes, and I won't sugar coat that.
00:58But she says the conditions are making things worse.
01:02There's no rehabilitation there, and they wonder why so many people re-offend.
01:09Tasmania Southern Remand Centre is for inmates whose court matters haven't been finalised.
01:15It has two units, Blue Gum and Acacia, where Tash's son is.
01:19According to right to information documents obtained and analysed by the Greens, Acacia
01:24was locked down either partially or fully 655 times, almost twice a day, between January
01:321 and December 17 last year.
01:35Of those 655 lockdowns, 219 were longer than four hours.
01:41Some lasted all day.
01:43The other remand unit, Blue Gum, was locked down partially or fully 667 times.
01:50Of the more than 6,000 lockdowns across the 16 RISDN prison units last year, 900 exceeded
01:56eight hours.
01:58Many of the shorter lockdowns, some as brief as half an hour, were due to operational reasons.
02:04The reason listed for the majority of lockdowns over four hours was staff shortages.
02:10We can't let this continue and say it's just an operational matter, it's just a safety
02:14matter.
02:15When the rights of people are being violated, we have to look at why that's happening and
02:19do something about it.
02:20We want the appropriate level of staffing in the prison, we need the prison to run well.
02:24Lockdowns are one tool that is used at times.
02:28An answer that won't satisfy Tash.
02:30The system is a joke, it is a failure to whoever is in there.
02:36It doesn't matter what age and it doesn't matter what crime or how long they've been
02:39in there or how long they've got left to go.
02:42The system is a joke and needs to be fixed.