Children detained at Tasmania's troubled youth detention centre should be immediately moved elsewhere for their safety, legal and social services groups say.
The Ashley Youth Detention Centre has been the subject of harrowing evidence at a commission of inquiry into child sexual abuse in state-run institutions.
During closing addresses last month, commissioners said the centre should be shut as a matter of urgency.
Commissioner Marcia Neave said short-term reform was needed to address "serious deficits" in the care and rehabilitation of detainees.
The state government in 2021 pledged to shut the centre by the end of 2024 as part of a shift to more therapeutic facilities, but that deadline is expected to be pushed back.
Representatives from groups including the Tasmanian Council of Social Service, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre and Australian Lawyers Alliance have urged the government to move detainees to appropriate community-based facilities.
"We can’t continue to hold children in a facility deemed unfit to care for them," Tasmanian Human Rights Act Campaign Committee convenor Richard Griggs said.
"(It is) a place described during hearings as a 'monster’, which Commissioner Neave recommended be closed as a matter of urgency.
"While we welcome the development of a therapeutic plan for youth justice, we believe a truly therapeutic approach requires the immediate release of all children detained at Ashley to ensure their safety and wellbeing."
The Tasmanian children's commissioner recently said detainees have been confined to their rooms for hours due to staffing shortages.
"The evidence is very clear that sending children to detention increases the risk of re-offending and creates a pipeline into adult prisons,” Tasmanian Council of Social Service acting chief executive Charlie Burton said.
“It is time for all of us - parliamentarians from all sides of politics, community organisations, and civil society groups - to make the changes we know are needed."
Former detainees told the inquiry of being physically and sexually abused by workers at the centre, with one saying their medication was withheld unless they performed sexual acts.
The inquiry, which examined responses to abuse allegations at the centre, Launceston General Hospital, foster care and in public schools, will deliver its final report on September 26.
It contains 75 findings and 191 recommendations, which the state government has already pledged to adopt.
"We've committed to closing Ashley as soon as possible. We're working our way through the (inquiry) report," Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff told reporters on Friday.
Organisations including Amnesty International Australia have previously called for the centre, which has operated for about two decades, to be immediately closed.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
