About this report or communique
Report of the Auditor-General No. 3 2019-20
Tasmania Prison Service: use of resources
The objective of the audit was to form an opinion on the efficiency and effectiveness of Tasmania Prison Service’s (TPS’s) financial management of its custodial facilities.
The original focus of the performance audit, as outlined in the Annual Plan of Work 2016-17, was to review the management of Tasmanian prisons including security, reduction in recidivism and cost control/efficiency considerations. However, following the establishment of the Office of the Custodial Inspector in January 2017, whose purpose is to provide independent, proactive, preventative and systemic oversight of custodial centres, the audit’s scope was amended to avoid potential duplication.
The audit scope focused on TPS’s financial management of its operations, consequently the audit did not examine:
- governance and controls over service utilisation (e.g. health services, inmate transport)
- management of prison safety and security including preventing escapes, inmate and staff safety
- community re-entry preparation including rehabilitation
- inmate quality of life.
Further, the audit scope did not include services relating to:
- youth detention
- convicted persons or alleged offenders held in forensic mental health facilities
- persons held in police custody.
The audit examined information and data available for the period 2013-14 to 2017-18. In some instances, available data for 2018-19 has also been included.
A key focus of the audit was TPS’s management of resource costs, covering both Correctional Officer and Non-Correctional Officer costs.
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