A Queensland Human Rights Commission report found women in prisons are not seeking medical treatment or having family visit in order to avoid "traumatic" and "completely ineffective" strip searches.

The review calls for the procedure to be limited and eventually abolished, as both prisoners and staff labelled it dehumanising and counterproductive.

The Commission (QRHC) said the practice was ineffective in making prisons safer, with contraband being detected in one in 10,000 searches.

According to the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls are 7.7 times over-represented in Queensland detention system. In a study of the 14-year period to 2019, the Council found Aboriginal women and girls in were more likely to be sentenced for nonviolent and minor crimes than non-Indigenous women, and represented one third of cases.

Sisters Inside chief executive and human rights advocate Debbie Kilroy said the Human Rights Commission report was welcomed, but by no means timely.

"Sisters Inside has been campaigning and lobbying to end strip searching policies and practices for more than 30 years," she said.

"Strip searching is the sexual assault of women authorised and perpetrated by the State. We want strip searching abolished immediately. Sexual assault by the State must be abolished today."

The report - titled "Ineffective, inhumane, and an impediment to rehabilitation" - is taken directly from the testimony of a prisoner interviewed. The stated of the experience: "You are stripped of everything. They don't just strip your clothes; they strip away your dignity."

Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall said making prisons more humane for both prisoners and staff was important.

"Strip searches are unnecessarily traumatic and humiliating for prisoners, but they are also completely ineffective," he said.

"They have an absurdly low rate of contraband detection and have negative impacts on prison operations. They need to be replaced by modern technological alternatives in drug and contraband detection."

One prisoner spoke of the trauma they experienced during the process.

"When you come into jail, they strip you physically but they strip you of your self-respect, of your people, of your identity…" they said.

"Then over time you have to build yourself up, build up your self-confidence, self-esteem, self-worth until you're delivered back into the world. Hopefully you've got enough self to be able to function."

Another noted that they began to reduce their family visits to avoid the process.

"My family used to come weekly. I just said to him, you know, we'll just make it monthly or every six weeks, only for the fact just to cut down that strip search," they said.

The report also noted that corrections staff felt uncomfortable in strip searching prisoners with one stating that "It's incomprehensible to say we care about their [prisoners] outcomes, but we're still going to do things to them rather than for them."

"It's counterproductive to everything else we're gonna do. We're trying to create better versions of humanity when they leave than when they came in and if we're dehumanising them by doing this stuff purely because a piece of paper says so - then we're not doing that," another corrections staff said.

Ms Kilroy said there were better options to search for contraband that were less invasive, including body scanners- which were recommended in the report.

"Queensland Corrective Services have had the implementation of body scanners on their agenda for over 30 years," she said.

"If QCS really wanted to introduce body scanners and end the violent practice against women, they could purchase them immediately.

"The government funds QCS to build more cages for women and girls, so they can realistically fund body scanners to end this violence against women today."

She called for the process to be ended immediately.

"The State Government's agenda and policy to stop violence against women must extend to and include ALL women, including women in prisons," she said.

"We demand that strip searching be abolished today, as the QHRC recommendations do not go far enough in ending the violence against women."

Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan told National Indigenous Times he has been advised that Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) will consider the report's recommendations.

"Ensuring safety at prisons is a critical role of QCS and significant effort is focussed on preventing the introduction of weapons and contraband," he said.

"I fully support the professional efforts of custodial officers to preserve the safety of everyone in our Correctional facilities.

"Queensland Corrective Services is constantly evaluating new technologies for their potential application in a custodial environment."

The Minister noted that the report said a trial of body scanner technologies will take place at the Brisbane Womens' Correctional Centre, in 2024.

"In addition, the government has already allocated funding of $11 million for the rollout of this technology to all womens' correctional facilities once the trial is completed," Mr Ryan said.

"But it's important to reiterate that whatever measures and technologies are introduced to a correctional setting, the upmost priority is always upon the personal safety of corrective services staff and the prisoners in their care."