SA prisons 'rolling catastrophe': oppn

A parliamentary committee should investigate the "rolling catastrophe" that is the state's prison system, the South Australian opposition says.

The opposition wants a committee to look into a number of recent incidents, including a siege at the Port Augusta jail, the escape of a convicted murderer from the Adelaide women's prison, and the death of an inmate after a clash with guards at the Yatala jail.

"Corrections has become a rolling catastrophe and we need to find out why it has gone so far off the rails," opposition correctional services spokesman Dan van Holst Pellekaan said on Tuesday.