Victoria Police ordered to move accused from cells after ‘unlawful’ 24-day detainment
A High Court judge has ordered the immediate removal of a man from police custody after his legal team discovered he had been held in solitary confinement for almost twice the legally allowed period.
On Friday, Victoria’s Aboriginal Legal Service took Victoria Police to the Supreme Court in the first illegal detention emergency application to be filed before the bench since the state’s prison cell crisis began.
The court heard there are currently no beds available at Corrections Victoria facilities for people who require protection while in prison.
Solicitor Joanna Davidson sought an urgent order from Judge Lisa Hannon after her client, who cannot be named for his protection, spent 15 consecutive days in Moorabbin police station cells and a further nine days at a different police station.
This is almost twice the standard 14-day legal period for which a detained person can be held before being transferred to a correctional facility where their human rights can be better addressed.
Davidson said the problem was “systemic” and affected Victorians, particularly Indigenous people in the prison system, and his office had been informed of five recent cases.
“His detention and continued detention is against the law. As far as I understand, there is no place for him in the Prison. According to our presentation, this is the Prison’s problem, Chief Inspector [of police] “We cannot continue to detain him,” he said.
“We do not need to seek the help of the court to ensure that the police chief complies with the law.
“This is a systemic problem.”
Jenaya Ellis, an attorney representing the chief police commissioner, said the defendant is scheduled to be transferred to an evaluation prison on Saturday, but that is contingent on the person currently in that cell being placed elsewhere.
Ellis said they were not opposed to an order but reiterated the information his office had received about the situation.
“It’s expected, but not guaranteed. If the inmate in the bed refuses to be moved, it may not happen,” Ellis said.
Hannon ruled in his favor and ordered him to move out immediately on Friday.
The judge will now also consider whether a statement should be made that the man’s detention is unlawful.
This could open the door to the immediate transfer to prisons of anyone held in police cells for more than 14 days.
Last month this imprint revealed hundreds of Victorians were being moved between police cells every night due to overcrowding in state prisons, and an unpunished Indigenous man was held in various station cells for 26 days; This was almost twice the legal limit.
While most Victorian cells had a 14-day limit for holding people, prison overcrowding has led to officers moving people between cells and to different police stations across the state as part of a process known as “offloading”.
This process allows police to “reset the clock” and prevent them from breaching regulations.
At the time, around 300 Victorians were being transferred between police cells, mostly to other parts of the state, due to bed shortages. Some, including vulnerable prisoners, had missed hearings because courthouse cells were full on the scheduled hearing day.
“I was so afraid I was going to die in police custody,” said one impressed man.
People have different rights when held in police cells compared to Prison; here the Department of Corrections provides provisions for inmates that are not included in the police manual.
This includes the right to be outdoors for at least one hour each day, the right to be provided with food sufficient to protect the prisoner’s health and well-being, and the right to be treated in a manner consistent with one’s status as an unserved person.
Government changed the Bail Law It led to an increase in the number of people detained in March 2025.
The issue has prompted the Victorian Ombudsman to express fears that detained Victorians are at risk of having their fundamental rights violated as those moving between police cells fall through accountability gaps.
The watchdog warned there was no independent oversight of the practice of “evacuating” people from police cells.
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