Victoria’s community legal centres are raising significant concerns with the Victorian Government’s Corrections Amendment Bill 2026, (“No Air in Prison Bill”) which is set to be introduced in the Legislative Assembly this sitting week.
Developed as a response to the recent Supreme Court judgment in Marrogi, which found that depriving a prisoner of one hour per day in the open air breached both the Corrections Act 1986 (Vic) and the state’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, the No Air in Prison Bill seeks to remove the legal requirement to provide access to fresh air, instead leaving it subject to ‘operational considerations’ at correctional facilities.
Rather than taking action to change its practices follow the decision of the court that Corrections Victoria had acted unlawfully and incompatibly with the right to humane treatment, the government is instead moving to re-write the law and override the Human Rights Charter.
By not providing every inmate in prison with a minimum of one hour per day in the open air, Victoria would be in breach of The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Mandela Rules.
We think everyone deserves to see the sky and breathe fresh air.
Indeed, organisations with responsibility for monitoring deprivation of liberty typically use access to the open air in prisons as a basic protection against torture and ill-treatment.
The No Air in Prison Bill would also remove the right to compensation for anyone who has been harmed by being denied access to their legal right to one hour per day in the open air, including barring retrospective claims from before the changes even come into effect.
This move will have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples held in custody.
When there have been 639 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the Royal Commission’s final report was handed down, we know this bill will pose significant risk to social and emotional wellbeing and health outcomes for Aboriginal people and other racialised minorities.
The proposed legislation also removes any obligation on the government to review the decision to override the Human Rights Charter through a scheduled, future review
Quotes attributable to people with lived experience of Victoria’s prison system:
“I am formerly incarcerated, I was in a solitary confinement unit for five months.
“I regularly didn’t get my one hour, and it harmed me. It still harms me.
“If you’re expecting a good outcome, you need to think again because all that’s going to do is create more resentment, more anger and these people are going to come out with some lifelong trauma.” – Kelly
“Having no access to fresh air, amongst so many other things, has caused me to suffer from PTSD so severe that I doubt I will ever recover from it.” – Carolyn
Quotes attributable to Federation of Community Legal Centres CEO Louisa Gibbs:
“Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and we should be celebrating the protection it provides to the basic human rights and freedoms of all members of our community.
“Instead, what the Corrections Amendment Bill demonstrates is that Victorians can no longer rely on the government to uphold their human rights in cases that cause administrative challenges.
“It’s incredibly concerning that the Victorian Government is willing to ignore basic human rights in favour of prisons’ operational convenience.
“Managing the state’s correction system is a complex task, which has been made all the more challenging as a direct result of supposedly ‘tough on crime’ laws which have the effect of locking more people up and overloading prisons.
“There is no place in a country that is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in a state that has enacted a Charter of Human Rights, for a bill like this.
“It should be immediately withdrawn.”
Quotes attributable to Victorian Aboriginal Legal CEO Nerita Waight:
“The Charter of Human Rights is being overridden because this government doesn’t want to ensure access to fresh air, a protected human right.
“What protected human rights are next, and for what defensible purpose?
“Our lives, our wellbeing and our safety should be of the upmost importance to this government, rather than removing civil remedy when harm has been caused by a state made problem.
“Shame on this government.
“We are now in a treaty era and instead of seeing meaningful reforms that benefit all Victorians, all we have witnessed this year are rolling punitive reforms that are ill-informed dangerous and premised on securing votes in November.
“All Victorians should be alarmed at this deliberate and wilful act of punitive punishment to people who are incarcerated.
“There is nothing rehabilitative about removing someone’s access to fresh air, this will only further erode community safety and be a costly exercise in public health funding responding to the trauma and harm inflicted.
“Human rights are to be protected and upheld, not wilfully ignored.”
Quotes attributable to Human Rights Law Centre First Nations Justice Director Maggie Munn:
“Everyone deserves to see the sky and breathe fresh air.
“Access to fresh air in prison is a basic protection against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment – treatment prohibited under international law and protected against under Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.
“When governments are found to violate people’s rights, they should end the harm, not change the rules to avoid accountability.
“The Corrections Amendment Bill – better described as the ‘No Air in Prison Bill’ – will cause disproportionate harm to First Nations people incarcerated in Victorian prisons, as well as people already subjected to cruel practices such as solitary confinement.
“By overriding the Charter to remove bare minimum protections for people in prison, the government is sending a dangerous message that people’s rights are optional and up for grabs.”
