To the Premier of Victoria, the Minister for Corrections, and all Members of the Victorian Parliament,

We, the undersigned, call upon the Victorian Government and all Members of Parliament to vote NO to the proposed amendments that override Victoria's Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, restrict the right of people in prison to access one hour of open air each day, and remove avenues of accountability when those rights are breached. Corrections Amendment Bill 2026 needs to go.

This is about more than prisons. It is about who we are as a society and what we are willing to accept from those entrusted to govern us.

The Victorian Government has acknowledged that these amendments are incompatible with the right to humane treatment when deprived of liberty and protection from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Rather than addressing the systemic failures that have resulted in these breaches, it has chosen to legislate away the protections themselves.

Human rights do not become optional because they are inconvenient.

If correctional facilities are unable to meet their legal obligations because of inadequate infrastructure, chronic staff shortages, or operational deficiencies, then the solution cannot be to lower the standard expected of them. The solution must be investment, reform, and accountability.

No government should ever find it easier to change the law than it is to fix the problem.

These proposed amendments create broad exemptions allowing rights to be restricted on the basis of prison management, good order, security, safe custody, welfare, and operational considerations. While these considerations are undoubtedly important, they must never become catch all justifications for systemic failures.

Rights should not become privileges afforded only when it is convenient or adequately resourced to do so.

We are already witnessing extensive lockdowns across Victorian correctional facilities. Entire days spent locked in cells. Consecutive days in some instances. Rehabilitation programs cancelled. Educational opportunities lost. Employment opportunities diminished. Visitors sent away at the doors upon arrival. Meaningful engagement sacrificed in favour of simply managing operational deficiencies.

Extended confinement has significant impacts on mental health, emotional regulation, and an individual's capacity to positively engage with rehabilitation. Yet we continue to speak publicly about rehabilitation while simultaneously stripping away the very conditions required for it to occur.

A prison sentence is the punishment. Inhumane treatment should never become part of it.

Most importantly, the overwhelming majority of people in prison will one day return to our communities. Every policy decision made today determines who returns home tomorrow.

If we genuinely care about community safety, then we should care deeply about rehabilitation.

There is nothing "soft on crime" about rehabilitation. It is one of the smartest investments we can make in preventing future harm.

And even if you are a victim of crime and especially if you are a victim of crime, I would hope you would never want another individual or family to experience what you did. The surest way to honour victims is not simply through punishment, but through preventing future harm.

If we fail to ensure people are utilising their time in custody to genuinely rehabilitate, then the cycle never ends. It becomes only a matter of time before they are released carrying the same trauma, untreated addictions, deficiencies in coping skills, or behavioural patterns that brought them there in the first place.

We should all want fewer victims tomorrow than we have today.

The measure of a justice system is not how many people it can keep behind bars, it is how many people never return to them.

Correctional officers deserve better too.

Many of the challenges facing our prison system stem from poor working conditions and limited opportunities for both staff and prisoners alike. Chronic staff shortages mean vacant shifts become common place, opportunities are missed, and rehabilitation inevitably becomes secondary to simply managing day to day operations.

Which raises another important question.

Why are we paying $8,000 incentives to onboard staff into workplaces that are chronically understaffed, under resourced, and increasingly limited in the opportunities they provide to make meaningful change?

If we are struggling to attract and retain staff, perhaps we need to stop asking why people do not want the job and start asking why they do not want to stay.

Imagine directing that same investment into expanding rehabilitation programs, trauma informed therapy, addiction services, educational pathways, vocational training, and meaningful employment opportunities within our prisons. Imagine correctional officers being empowered and supported to facilitate positive change rather than merely managing lockdowns and operational crises.

Imagine coming to work knowing that what you do today could prevent another victim tomorrow.

People want purpose in their work. They want to know they have made a difference. Rehabilitation should not be viewed as being at odds with security, it is one of the greatest contributors to community safety that exists.

Treating prisoners with dignity and respect is not incompatible with accountability. In fact, both are essential if rehabilitation is to mean anything at all.

Equally concerning is the removal of accountability itself. The proposed legislation seeks to prevent individuals previously denied lawful access to open air from obtaining monetary compensation. Combined with the removal of sentence reductions previously available through the Emergency Management Days process, increasingly few mechanisms remain through which correctional facilities can be held accountable when legal obligations are not met.

Without accountability, rights become little more than words on paper.

Most concerning of all, however, is the precedent this sets.

There is perhaps one uncomfortable truth we do not speak about enough. None of us are immune from human fallibility. We or those we love are only one mishap, one mistake, one lapse in judgement, one poor decision, or one set of unforeseen circumstances away from finding ourselves in a position we never imagined possible.

No parent raises their child believing prison will one day form part of their story. No one gets married expecting incarceration to become part of their family's journey. Life is complicated, human beings are imperfect, and while individuals must always be held accountable for their actions, accountability should never require us to abandon our humanity.

Prisons are not occupied by some separate class of people, they are occupied by human beings. Mothers and fathers. Sons and daughters. Husbands and wives. Friends and neighbours. They are people who have made mistakes, people who have caused harm, people battling addiction, trauma, mental illness, and disadvantage, and people capable of genuine change and rehabilitation. The overwhelming majority will one day return to our communities. It is therefore in all of our interests that they are given every reasonable opportunity to leave better than when they arrived.

It is easy to defend human rights when they apply to people we know, love, and understand. Their true value, however, is measured by our willingness to defend them when they protect those we may struggle to empathise with. Rights that are conditional upon popularity, public opinion, or political convenience are not rights at all.

The question before us should never be, "Do they deserve humane treatment?" It should instead be, "What kind of society do we become if we decide that anyone does not?"

Today, it is the rights of people in prison that are being overridden. Tomorrow, it may be another group whose rights become inconvenient to uphold.

Human rights are not designed to protect only the people we like, agree with, or identify with. They are designed to protect every one of us by placing limits on the power of governments.

This debate is bigger than prisons.

Many Victorians hold differing views about the measures taken during periods of emergency, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Whatever position people hold on those decisions, they demonstrated that governments can exercise extraordinary powers when Parliament permits them to do so. That reality should remind us all of the importance of carefully scrutinising any proposal that limits rights or reduces accountability.

If we become comfortable with governments responding to failures of policy, funding, or infrastructure by legislating away rights and removing accountability, then we should all be asking ourselves where that principle ends.

If we are willing to say, "It's acceptable because they're prisoners," then we are missing the point entirely. Human rights protections are tested not when they are easy to uphold, but when they are politically difficult to defend.

Human rights do not belong to prisoners. They belong to people.

And that means they belong to all of us.

We therefore call upon the Victorian Government and all Members of Parliament to:

 Vote NO to the proposed amendments in their current form.

 Uphold the protections contained within Victoria's Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.

 Invest in adequate staffing levels, infrastructure, and rehabilitation programs across Victorian correctional facilities.

 Ensure meaningful and transparent accountability mechanisms remain in place when minimum standards of humane treatment are not met.

 Subject extensive lockdowns and restrictions on basic rights to appropriate oversight and use them only as genuine last resort measures.

 Prioritise reducing recidivism through rehabilitation, education, employment opportunities, and meaningful engagement for people in custody.

 Create workplaces that attract and retain compassionate, capable correctional staff by providing opportunities to contribute positively to rehabilitation and community safety.

Prisons are intended to deprive people of their liberty, not their humanity because if people are going to return to society and most of them will, we should all care deeply about who returns home.

If the Government cannot meet its human rights obligations, the answer is not to remove the rights. It is to meet the obligations because if we allow governments to lower the standard whenever meeting it becomes difficult, we have not solved the problem, we have simply legalised it.

We call upon all Victorians to contact their local Members of Parliament and ask them to vote NO to these proposed amendments.

Demand accountability.

Demand rehabilitation.

Demand better.

Safer communities begin with successful rehabilitation, not political convenience.

VOTE NO. PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS. INVEST IN REHABILITATION. MAINTAIN ACCOUNTABILITY.

 

"The measure of a justice system is not how many people it can keep behind bars, it is how many people never return to them."