This is absolutely disgraceful!!!
What the Corrections Amendment Bill 2026 (Vic) means for human rights in prison
21 JUL 2026First Nations JusticeDignity for People in Prison
Suffocating human rights: Corrections Amendment Bill 2026 (Vic)
Everyone deserves to see the sky and breathe fresh air. Access to fresh air is a lifeline for people in prison and a bare minimum protection against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
The Allan Government’s Corrections Amendment Bill 2026 (the “No Air in Prison Bill”) seeks to strip away one of the few minimum protections for people in prison – the right to have at least one hour each day ‘in the open air’ – by qualifying that it will be subject to the vague and elastic concept of “operational considerations”. It also seeks to deny compensation to those who were unlawfully deprived of fresh air.
Background
The No Air in Prison Bill is said to respond to a Supreme Court judgment handed down earlier this year, which found that a person in prison had been unlawfully deprived of their right to be in the open air, as protected under section 47(1)(a) of the Corrections Act 1986 (Vic). The Court held that this denial also breached their right to humane treatment when deprived of liberty, as protected by Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (the Charter).
When governments are found to have violated people’s rights, the answer is to end the harm, not rewrite the rules.
Human rights violated
The No Air in Prison Bill violates Australia’s binding obligations under international human rights law – including the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) – to ensure that people are free from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
Protection from such treatment is also enshrined in Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.
The Allan Government acknowledges that the No Air in Prison Bill is incompatible with the Charter and is proposing the extraordinary step of overriding the Charter indefinitely to pass it.
Harmful impacts on people in prison
If enacted, the Bill will disproportionately harm Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who continue to be subjected to mass incarceration as a consequence of the ongoing impacts of colonisation and laws, policies and practices shaped by systemic racism.
It will also compound the harms experienced by people subjected to solitary confinement – the confinement of a person for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact. This cruel practice is ongoing in Victorian prisons despite prolonged solitary confinement being prohibited under international human rights law. At least one hour in the open air every day is a lifeline for people locked away in solitary confinement.
The Allan Government is blatantly declaring that our rights are optional and can be disregarded when they are inconvenient. It must not proceed with the No Air in Prison Bill.