Celling them short

Colac cops forced to leave town to lock up prisoner

COLAC was left without its only police divisional van on Saturday after frontline officers were forced to drive hours to transfer an accused person to the nearest free police cell.

The Geelong Advertiser has been told police were unable to respond to an incident in Colac as the van was being used to drive the alleged offender to Geelong, about 75km away.

It comes as new Andrews Government data reveals the worsening state of Victoria’s prisoner custody crisis.

The figures reveal police cells reached breaking point on July 30, when 304 prisoners were being held in remand cells.

At the same time in 2016 there were 185 inmates in police cells, representing a 64 per cent jump.

The overcrowding crisis has been blamed on a crime crackdown, with tough new bail laws resulting in an explosion in the number of remand prisoners.

A bail justice from western Victoria said the justice system was becoming a “circus.”

“There is constant shuffling of prisoners which burns up resources,” he said “The system is under-resourced.”

Inmates must be detained in cells immediately before and after court appearances.

New data shows taxpayers were charged $62,639.20 between 1 July and 14 September because prison authorities failed to deliver inmates to court. Magistrates ordered costs against Corrections Victoria in 72 cases for prisoner no-shows.

Opposition police spokesman Edward O’Donohue said: “The justice system is grinding to a halt, delaying justice for victims of crime and diverting scarce police resources from catching crooks to babysitting crooks.”

Jail video conferencing has become default for court hearings: defendants appeared via videolink in more than 2500 hearings in July. Weekend bail and remand courts have also been introduced.

The Opposition has vowed to have magistrates hear procedural matters in prisons to reduce inmate movements.