Changes to the Corrections Management Act weaken the rule that people who are held in custody while awaiting trial must be detained separately from convicted prisoners, says the ACT Human Rights Commission. 

The amendments to the act, made by the ACT government in the Legislative Assembly this week, were introduced in response to court cases where the conditions in the ACT’s jail have been raised as an argument for bail. 

“Disappointingly, the Scrutiny Committee – which plays an important role in ensuring that legislation upholds rights – has been bypassed,” the Commission says in a media statement, adding that it is “extremely concerned” that these amendments continue to allow for the routine detention of remandees with convicted prisoners, in violation of human rights. 

“The rules on treatment of people remanded in custody while awaiting trial reflect the presumption of innocence – a principle that is fundamental to a fair criminal justice system,” the Commission says.

“Only if a person has been convicted, following a fair trial, can they be deprived of liberty as a punishment. 

“Depriving a person of their liberty, particularly in a prison, is a serious limitation of their rights. The Human Rights Act states that in general, people awaiting trial should be permitted to remain in the community. 

“If remanded in custody, the act says that remanded persons must be segregated from convicted prisoners, unless there are exceptional circumstances. They must also be treated in a way that is appropriate for a person who has not been convicted. 

“To dispense with these rights and treat remandees in the same way as convicted prisoners is tantamount to depriving a person of their liberty as punishment without first holding a trial. As the Red Queen says in Alice in Wonderland: ‘sentence first, verdict afterwards’. 

“Remanding a person in custody is not intended as a punishment. It may be required because of risks the accused poses to society or the justice process. It may occur for reasons such as the accused’s potential risk of non-attendance at their trial. The sad reality is that many remandees are homeless, suffering from mental illness and/or living with disability. 

“Criminalisation of social inequalities such as homelessness should not be occurring in the ACT. Instead, this small, affluent, and highly educated territory ought to be investing in supports for people to meet bail conditions and reducing recidivism by tackling inequality.”