Prisoners spending entire jail term in police cells as Victoria’s justice system buckles | Victoria

In the winter of this year, a young Aboriginal man with a history of self-harm who was detained in Melbourne was told he would be moving cells.

But he wasn’t taken across the corridor or to another nearby building: he was taken 300 kilometers to police cells in Wodonga.

It had no connection with the city in the northeasternmost part of the state. He also had no shoes or socks. Neither his family nor his lawyer were told he would be transferred to another part of the state; he found out after his lawyer called previous cells to be told he had been moved.

The man was relocated as part of a process called “offloading”: the moving of people between prisons and police cells in Victoria as the state balances tougher bail laws with shortages of beds and prison staff.

Victoria police have reached an agreement with Corrections Victoria that no one will be held in police cells for more than 14 days; because both officials admit that these cells are not equipped to hold people for longer than necessary.

The agreement is regularly violated. This means that incarcerated people (those who have not been convicted or sentenced for any crime) are often held in cells for 23 hours a day, have less access to healthcare, and have fewer chances to be visited or contacted by their families and lawyers than those in prisons.

In cases over the past six months, revealed by Guardian Australia, people were moved from Melbourne to cells in Bendigo and Geelong.

In fact, people regularly complete their entire prison sentences in police cells.

There are also unconfirmed reports of people being released from police custody in towns hundreds of kilometers from their homes, with no clear route for them to return.

Nearly 30 people were held in police cells for more than 14 days last month, according to senior police officers at the inquest into Aboriginal Cody Dwyer, who died in custody in 2021.

The inquiry also heard police wanted to renegotiate the agreement with amendments from 14 days to seven days, aware of the human rights consequences of keeping people in inappropriate cells for longer than necessary.

But no agreement was reached as the state’s justice system weakened under the weight of record demand for detention beds and newly appointed police commissioner Mike Bush pressed for more officers to return to the streets.

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Acting chief executive of Corrections Victoria’s corrections management team, Geraldine Veneziano, told the Dwyer inquiry police cells were needed when prisons became “bottlenecks”.

The regularity of this meant that little could be done to meet police demands to reduce the number of days people could spend in their cells.

Lawyers began emailing Corrections Victoria when they were concerned their clients were being transferred to state police cells or detained for longer than the 14-day agreement.

The Department of Corrections refers them to Victoria Police and says if people are in their cells they are not the responsibility of the corrections service.

Sometimes it forwards the email to Victoria Police’s custody management section.

In emails seen by Guardian Australia, the opening of the Western Plains prison is seen as a possible solution to the problem. The 1,200-bed prison opened on June 26, but staff shortages continue in the penal system.

“If I talk about the detention environment today, we have people detained in a police detention facility for more than 14 days,” Kline told the Dwyer inquiry.

“Victoria police have a significant focus and corrections on people who are on high days these days and we try to avoid that as much as we can.

“There are situations where we may need to move people away from locations.”

The Dwyer inquiry also heard about 20 people were completing prison sentences in police cells in early October.

A police spokesman said in a statement that the force could only transfer a certain number of people to prisons each day, depending on their capacity.

“These numbers vary and Victoria Police prioritizes the transfer of individuals, taking into account those requiring medical support or other relevant circumstances, including those from vulnerable community groups.

“Victoria police will continue to work with Corrections Victoria to ensure offenders are placed in appropriate detention facilities in a timely manner.

“No person is placed in a police cell until the relevant risks, management requirements and considerations for the individual have been assessed.”

A Department of Justice spokesman attributed the high demand for beds to bail reforms.

“Corrections Victoria is working closely with Victoria police to ensure offenders are prosecuted as quickly as possible,” they said.

Crisis support service in Australia Lifeline 13 11 is 14. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Samaritans You can contact freephone 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the number. 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or in chat 988lifeline.org. Other international helplines can be reached at: befrienders.org