Authorities are scrambling to contain a coronavirus outbreak in Tasmania's Risdon Prison which has escalated to 50 cases in the two days since it was discovered.
The first positive case was detected in the Ron Barwick minimum-security facility on Monday, and by that evening it had risen to 26.
A day later, that number has gone up again, to 48.
The outbreak has also spread to other parts of the complex, with one case identified in the higher-security area, and another in the Mary Hutchinson Women's Prison.
All in-person visits have been immediately stopped, and infected prisoners and close contacts have been forced into isolation.
A lockdown has been implemented, with only staff in essential services, such as catering and security, able to access affected facilities.
The prison service has also set up an emergency command centre, and prisoners have been given COVID-19 activity packs to keep them engaged.
Speaking prior to the latest figures being released, Tom Lynch from the Community and Public Sector Union said it was inevitable that coronavirus would arrive in Tasmania's prison system, but it was essential that plans to prevent a rapid escalation of the situation were implemented.
He warned it might be necessary to call in resources from other areas to assist correctional officers, such as police.
"If it spreads from the 26 to the whole 300 that are in the Ron Barwick Prison, that's a massive workload," he said.
"There are insufficient staff in the prison service to do that."
"The community expects the prison service to be operated in a way that is safe for the community, safe for the inmates that are in there, and safe for the staff that work in that system.
"Keeping people isolated is going to be very hard inside a prison. We've seen that elsewhere in other parts of the world, even other parts of Australia, COVID spreads very quickly in an environment when people are confined like that."
A spokesman for the Justice Department said plans were in place to minimise further spread, and it was implementing its outbreak management plans and COVID-19 safety plans.
Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff has called for low-risk, non-violent prisoners to be released into the community to keep them safe and reduce pressure on the prison.
"It is unsafe for prisoners, it is unsafe for staff."
Corrections and Rehabilitation Minister Elise Archer rejected that idea.
"We won't be listening to the Greens — prisoners should serve the sentence imposed by the court independent of government interference, and in line with community expectations," she said.
