The Prisons Department replaced the Gaols Department in 1959. It had oversight of the inmates of the Police Watch House in Launceston and other local prisons. The Department ran Campbell Street Gaol and its replacement, Risdon Prison. In 1983, the Prisons Department became part of the Division of Corrective Services which was located within the Law Department.
Although the Prisons Department had oversight of the inmates at the Police Watch House in Launceston and in other local gaols around Tasmania, the Police Department ran them. Some of those inmates were under the age of 18.