No-one doubts that doctors working in the prison system are doing a tough job, but it is not simply about the depth and complexity of the cohort they treat with limited resources.

A report, released last week, has offered an insight into what medical autonomy means when clinical decisions made by doctors do not find favour with the prison regime.

Written by Tasmanian prison inspector Richard Connock, the report describes the story of a doctor who turned up for work at the Mary Hutchinson Women’s Prison last year.

She was standing at the prison gate in full public view when a junior uniformed officer told her that she had been banned and would not be allowed to enter.