Students and research

The Tasmania Prison Service (TPS) is committed to providing opportunities to students through study placements and the provision of research material that can be used to further enhance students' knowledge of the TPS and related topics.

Resources

Publications

Breaking the Cycle

Risdon Prison Complex Inquiry

Deaths in Custody Inquest (PDF, 840.9 KB)

Tasmanian Legislation

Australian Institute of Criminology

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Australian Law Reform Commission

Sentencing Advisory Council

Tasmania Law Reform Institute


PDFs require a PDF reader to be viewed. Follow this link to download a PDF reader or contact us if you would like to request the publication in an alternative format.

Research projects and applications

Tasmania Prison Service (TPS) values evidenced-based research in the corrections sector. Approval is required to conduct research at any TPS facilities, with TPS staff or prisoners, or with TPS data.  As such, we welcome applications for high quality, evidence-based research for consideration.  TPS has identified several key research areas that are particularly encouraged, and that aim to contribute to our corrections knowledge and practice. Applicants are typically academics or post-graduate students from tertiary institutions, or health professionals or researchers from private organisations.

TPS Research and Evaluation Committee

The TPS Research and Evaluation Committee (REC) are responsible for the co-ordination of research applications at TPS.  The REC is made up of experienced TPS staff from key areas of the prison and with extensive research knowledge and experience.  You must apply to conduct research and gain approval from the REC prior to accessing TPS facilities, staff, prisoners, or data.  The REC is not an ethics committee and do not provide ethics clearance for any proposed research.  Instead, you must present evidence that the research complies with appropriate ethical guidelines.  The REC are committed to ensuring that the research conducted at TPS is aligned with our goals of rehabilitation, safety and community re-integration.  They are responsible for reviewing all applications for research and determining which applications can proceed.  They consider several factors when selecting which projects can proceed, including strategic benefit (e.g. value of the research to the agency, alignment with TPS Strategic Research Agenda) and effects on agency operations (e.g. amount of in-kind assistance required from TPS, effects on the workload of TPS staff and on TPS’s normal functioning).  The REC also give consideration to the number of active research project at any one time.

TPS Strategic Research Agenda

Below are the TPS Strategic Research Agenda key areas and suggested research topics.

  • Engage the right people and empower them to succeed.  Potential topics include workplace culture, the changing role of Correctional Officers, and personality characteristics.
  • Develop a healthy prison environment. Potential topics include return to work experiences, healthy prisons, prisoner on prisoner violence, and improving the value of Correctional Officer and prisoner relationships.
  • Equip our people to do their jobs. Potential topics include perceptions, supporting transgender prisoners, and changes in offending.
  • Ensure effective community engagement.
  • Support reintegration and rehabilitation.

The application process

Prior to commencing the application process, all applicants must read through the TPS Research Guidelines carefully.

Timeframe

Conducting research at TPS requires several steps and involves a timeline of at least several months from the application date.  For this reason, research by Master’s and PhD projects are preferred.  All research applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the TPS REC Chairperson prior to submitting their application, for an opportunity to provide advice and feedback.

The application steps are as follows:

  • Submit research application
  • Feedback exchange with REC (approximately 2-4 weeks)
  • Research and Evaluation Committee consideration (sits quarterly)
  • Endorsement by Senior Management Team (approximately 4 weeks)
  • TPS paperwork requirements, including Criminal History Check, TPS Research Projects Agreement, and any mandatory custodial training if applicable (approximately 4-6 weeks)
  • Ready to commence

Note: these timeframes are approximate and can be impacted by operational factors.

Documentation

The TPS Application to Conduct Research form must be completed.

The following is a list of supporting documentation required to be submitted with the research application.  The REC will only consider an application once we have received all necessary supporting documents.

  • A copy of your ethics application submitted to a recognised Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) in Australia, including any comments from your ethics committee and your response to them
  • Evidence of ethics approval
  • Any survey questionnaire, participant recruitment email, participant information sheet, informed consent form or other instruments and data collection tools (whichever applicable)
  • Any additional approval from relevant agencies (if your project involves any other government agencies).

Once all documents are prepared, the application form and supporting documents can be emailed to tpsresearchcommittee@justice.tas.gov.au

TPS REC consideration and endorsement

The REC sits quarterly to review applications. A tentative schedule for 2023-24 is as follows:

Meeting Date

Latest Application Submission Date

Monday 29 January 2024

Monday 22 January 2024

Monday 25 March 2024

Monday 18 March 2024

Monday 24 June 2024

Monday 17 June 2024

Monday 23 September 2024

Monday 16 September 2024

After the meeting, applicants are advised of the provisional decision. This review may result in the following decisions:

  • Approved;
  • Conditionally approved (approval granted subject to specific amendments to the proposal or additional information being provided);
  • Deferred (where applicant is required to provide additional information or make amendments to the proposal); or
  • Not approved.

The final decision will be as follows:

  • Approved; or
  • Not approved.

The REC will provide written advice of the final outcome as soon as practicable after the Director of Prisons endorses the committee decision. The advice will be in form of a letter to the principal researcher listed in the application.

If not approved

Applicants are entitled to lodge appeals against any TPS REC decisions or about the conduct of the REC in reviewing applications, if they feel they have been dealt with unfairly. Appeals must be lodged in writing with the REC Chairperson within 10 working days of the TPS REC’s final decision being communicated to the applicant.  The Chairperson will investigate the appeal and make recommendations to the TPS REC about the appropriate course of action.  A review of the REC’s decision will only be conducted if it is found that the conduct of the REC substantially affected the decision that was made.  Appellants who are not satisfied with the management of the appeal may contact Human Resources and seek final resolution of the appeal.  This must be done in writing within 10 working days of advice from the Chair regarding investigation of the appeal being received.

If approved

The principal researcher will be asked to sign a Deed of Agreement, which states any conditions of the approval.  All research team members who need access to TPS data (e.g. CIS) or data generated out of the research exercise (e.g. interview data) will be asked to sign a Research Project Agreement.  If you need to access a TPS custodial facility for research purposes, you will be asked to provide a Criminal History Check.  Processing these checks can take several weeks.  Further, if you need access to a TPS custodial facility, you will be asked to attend or complete a mandatory short training session to understand prison protocols before your visit, which will be organised by TPS training.

Please note, we try to support researchers as much as possible and practical. However, in rare cases relevant areas may not be able to support a research project due to unforeseen operational challenges. This may result in delays or our inability to support the project even after it has been approved by the REC.

Before you publish

You are required to provide TPS REC with a draft of the project’s output before submitting it for publication, presentation or wider dissemination. This is primarily to ensure facts and information around TPS policies and practices presented in the publication are accurate.  We then provide written advice about the publication. The Research Project Agreement will guide your responsibilities regarding the handling and publication of TPS data.

Contact:

Chairperson of the TPS REC: Email: tpsresearchcommittee@justice.tas.gov.au

Study placements

A range of students and researchers have enjoyed placements and projects in the TPS, as they complete their study in a variety of disciplines, including social work, education, business management, criminology and law.

If you are studying a relevant course and you wish to be hosted by the TPS for your placement, you should discuss this with your academic supervisor who can engage with the TPS about the possibility of you undertaking a study placement.

Please direct your correspondence to the TPS Research and Evaluation Committee:

PO Box 24
Lindisfarne TAS 7015

Last updated: 16 September 2022