Prison guards say they are having to confine prisoners to their cells for between 20 and 23 hours a day in most jails to manage physical distancing during the Covid-19 outbreak.
People with family members in prison are concerned about the conditions during the pandemic with one woman refused permission to send even basic clothes to her partner for the coming winter.
Corrections say no prisons are in total 23 hour lockdown although they admit some individual prisoners may be in their cells that long and lockdown hours generally have been increased.
They say the rules are designed for inmate safety and so far the jails are free of Covid-19.
Investigative reporter Guyon Espiner has the story.
